What's this dedication stuff and where in the world did it come from?

Towards the end of last year I decided I still wanted to race my bike a bit more before settling down into being a mildly sporting average joe. Also my year off from racing made me realize there was alot more I wanted from the sport which required giving it an honest effort.

Before a couple months ago I had started to believe that 5:00am didn't exist. Or at least in terms of cycling and training. My methods for training in the past involved staying up till 2:00-3:00am either doing homework or wasting time, riding occasionally during the week if I felt like it and cramming as much riding into the weekend as I could muster. But when it came time to lay out a plan for '08 I talked Kayla into being my coach to keep me on track and give me some direction which I've really never had before. We setup a training calender and for my first time ever in cycling I put pen to paper to write out some goals. Nothing spectacular or unreasonable but for sure enough that to accomplish them will push me to my limits this year. Since the start of November I've been waking up at 5:00am just about every weekday to log some miles on the rollers before going to work at 8:00am (in college I don't think I ever rode in the morning even when my classes didn't start until 11:00!).

I've decided to go about this in what I like to think of as the "Rocky IV" method. Apart from the rollers and trainer I've also adopted a routine involving strength training(random heavy objects taped to a bar and in a backpack) and running in the snow (if only I had some wood to split and a pair of Russians following me I'd be set). I don't have any new equipment for the new season (apart from hopefully a new, probably used, wheel set before races start) and for some strange reason I kind of like it that way.

How will this all pan out? Only one way to find out. But considering that on even my best years in the past when January rolled around I always caught myself saying "maybe it's time I start thinking about riding more than once a week", I think this is gonna be a good one.