This is my lightest year’s-end ever, coming out of Christmas break.  I started back to eating responsibly immediately after Christmas Day and I’m somewhere between 177 and 179.  I think I’ll have that down to 175 by March, without breaking a sweat.  Figuratively.  I plan on eating about 2,500 calories a day, give or take.  That’s about 500-600 less than I’d eat in-season. That’ll do it for the diet.

As for taking a week off the bike… Um, yeah.  I don’t do that.  The last time I took a week off from whatever fitness thing I was into at the time, I was laid up with an injury from running.  I think I took a few days off after I developed a hamstring issue from riding a saddle that was too wide.  Other than an active vacation or two, I just don’t do more than a few days off.

Days off?  When I was running, absolutely.  A week off?  Not since I was chubby.  I used to be unreasonably thin before I quit smoking.  I rarely ate food for enjoyment back then.  Once I quit smoking and found out what it was like to eat with real, working taste buds, well let’s just say it’s been a challenge, at times, to push myself away from the table.  Therefore I pursue fitness much like I pursue recovery, vociferously.

My week off the bike is six days on the bike, 45 minutes a day…. in an easier gear than normal.