No snow yet.....

Our apologies for being a bit quiet for a week there. You would be forgiven for thinking we were celebrating the blog's one-year anniversary by going off-line and having a nap on the couch. Nothing can be further from the truth (You want the truth? You can't handle the truth. Sorry about that, couldn't resist!). We hope in our absence, Scott and his oppos over at TriNB were keeping you amused. That whole Cipolini/machismo thing was worth a read, and a smile and some of the other stuff, well it's not triathlon but life isn't 100% triathlon 100% of the time.

Now that the Holiday season has indubitably arrived, to the delight of romanticists and the chagrin of Grinches alike, you would be correct in thinking that the sporting season for us lot has well and truly finished. Back in October, many of you indicated a willingness to carry on racing; late-season road-races, trail races, cyclocross, and the U23 athletes were busy racing Varsity. Now, well even Ron McScotch hasn't used a safety pin for a couple of weeks, and if there's a race out there to be done, he can sniff it out. So surely there can be no way that even the TA can turn this into a triathlon article.

Well, perhaps we can turn the absence of events into an article, and even a poll. Yes, a poll. They've kinda fallen by the wayside recently, so we think we'll get them back up and running.

Firstly, the results from the last poll, which we realise we put up just after Legs for Literacy in Moncton in late October. Following Colin Edwards' disappointment with a race-winning 36' 10K we asked if 36' was really a fast time for a 10K. A clear majority, 61% of you said Yes, it was, with only 23% Grinches saying No it wasn't. The Yeses increased to 75% if we ranked the 14% Obi-Wan Kenobis as yes, because unless you are Kenenisa Bekele, the question really makes no sense. So Colin, yes, we all think you're still fast and to be honest, looking at the times, you can still beat everyone in TNS in a flat 10K.

Before you out there say anything about how your time at the Navy 10K was faster, remember, the Navy 10K is really the Navy 9.5 K, so you should have added a couple minutes to your time before you voted!

To business. The TA enjoyed a really nice ride in the snow last week, a lack of a properly functioning front-brake notwithstanding (tips on retrofitting disk-brakes onto canti-boss braze-ons gratefully accepted) so we ask firstly, are you sill riding outside? We know from last year that the bike is the first thing you tend to give up in the winter. However, the weather in Nova Scotia has persisted in remaining in "s@#*^y autumn" mode instead of progressing gracefully into winter. This means, should you be so inclined, bolting your bike into a trainer can be postponed and as riding outside in autumn is perfectly fine with the addition of a pair of knee-warmers, a Flemish-cap (of the woolly ear-flapped millinery rather than the disputed fishing territory variety, señor) and some long-fingered gloves, we don't think this is an overly obtuse question.

We'll post another poll in a couple of days, but you'll have to do some math for that one, so in the meantime do this one then sharpen a couple of pencils and revise your long-division. You can leave your log tables in your bag and yes, calculators will be allowed.

AD