Happy New Year!

Today my patch arrived for completing the Coffeeneuring Challenge and I realized that I have not posted a blog since Thanksgiving.  I learned one thing this winter, Tsuki LOVES to run in the cold.  In the summer she can only run a mile at a time, in the cold she can run twice the distance, and she really enjoyed Thanksgiving eve's snowy run.  On Thanksgiving morning I took Tsuki on the Turkey Trot 5K, but had to leave the bike at home.  Tsuki and I are in costume as the Fourth Doctor and K9.

Saturday we rode over 16 miles on the Galloway trail with our friend Susan with a detour to Sunshine Bike to look and their bikes and I fell in love with the Volpe going back to buy it that evening before they closed.

Sunday I led a group geocaching on the Frisco Trail.  It was a lot of fun except for the cold front that arrived, causing us to shorten our ride.  We ended up finding 10 geocaches though and it was a first time geocaching for most of the group, so all in all it was a success.
A week later I was sick with the flu and poor Tsuki was bored, so I took some silly closeups of her wishing I would take her for a run/ride.  It took forever for me to feel strong enough to get back on the bike, but as the semester ended and winter break began, I was ready to get out.  I didn't get any pictures of the next ride, but I did get a picture of her crashed out on the couch after running about six miles.

I took her out on a familiar trail most days during the week of Christmas doing a loop that is between 11 and 16 miles, depending on how far I ride before heading back home.

 I was able to go up a fairly steep hill with her on the back on the new bike. Since the weather was bad and it was a couple of days before Christmas there were very few people on the trails, so I gave her some freedom off leash when it was safe.  She was so happy and did such a good job staying by the bike.

 I am sad that my break is over and I will not have as much time to spend with my dog on the bike, and am finding it difficult to focus on work related activities when I really just want to get out and ride.  Although slightly warmer temperatures and more sunshine would make it much more enjoyable!