2 cents on motivation, because I'm clearly not going to get any PIE...

You had a big year last year. Some loss of motivation after a big year and a lot of accomplishments is normal, I think.

I've been through several periods where I lost motivation with riding. After some very intense training cycles where I was focussed on "x" miles or hours per day at "X" heart rate - it just killed cycling for me and I had to take some time off. When I came back (it was never like I "stopped" because I kept doing centuries, but nothing more than that and I wasn't exactly pushing myself), I rode when I wanted to and according to how I felt and really rediscovered riding and had fun with it. Then I gradually built up over a year or so and started doing tougher stuff like the doubles and Death Ride.

I don't know how your training has been over the fall and winter, but it's not a bad idea to give yourself a break from cycling and from "training" every once in a while. You won't lose as much fitness as you think - and more importantly you already have the "mental fitness" part down and that doesn't go away even when the legs get a bit soft - you know, the knowledge that you can do whatever ride because you did some other ride that's just as hard or harder.

I wouldn't have chosen 6 months off the bike last year, but being away from it has really made me really appreciate the time I do spend riding my bike, and in the long run, it will probably prove to have been a good thing (and not just because now I have almost normal lung capacity!). It also made me remember that even if I don't ride both weekend days or 3 days during the week or whatever, I can still get enough riding in to do the rides I want to, perform decently and still have a life. I'm trying to balance it out more - adding the horseback riding in has been fun, because PP enjoys that more than riding the tandem (I will continue to try the tandem, but no way would she ride in this cold!).

Enjoy the pie!