Once again, the time has come to write another Christmas letter. This year has been extremely busy and rewarding for both of us, so we’re a little late in getting this out so we are calling it a New Year’s letter, instead!

We have both had successful years at work and school. We even managed to earn awards. Heather won a Graduate Research Award, which gives her $4,000 to use on her research. That comes in handy, especially when molecular biology techniques aren’t cheap. Uhl won a Customer Orientation award from Intel for some great usability work he performed on the project he was on.

Intel has been a great company to work for, with a few nice perks. They have a New Employees Recreational Development (NERD) group for employees, their first year on the job. They have activities almost every month, which are fun and help the new employees (and significant others) make friends in the company and develop Intel Values. We did fun things like a barbecue up South Fork Canyon and lunch at various restaurants. We also did some exciting things too. We went ballooning for our first time ever, early in January. It was quite a thrill. We also went down to Lake Powell in September. That was a blast! We had three houseboats (you can see two in the picture), a ski boat, and six Tiger Sharks (like a Sea-doo). Heather managed to get some good water skiing in and Uhl even succumbed to the peer pressure and tried it the last day. He almost made it up on one ski, but by then, it was time to go. Next year he will be up for sure! Uhl really liked zooming around on the Tiger Sharks, those things can hit 50mph!

We also both had active cycling seasons this year. Because of the low airfares, Uhl was able to travel a lot with Heather early in the year. It is a lot of fun to travel together and watch each other race. After doing a lot of spring road races, Uhl decided he wanted more variety in his racing, so he did a few mountain bike races. He had a lot of fun doing them and is looking forward to more of the same for the 1997 season.

As for Heather, she got on a real cycling team this year. PowerBar sponsored a woman’s cycling team, and they wanted up-and-coming riders. Roger Young is the manager of the team, and the team had a budget, so most of Heather’s races were paid for! The team was also composed of Tina Mayolo, Brenda Brashears, Kim Erdoes, and Julie Freelove. The team got along great this season right from the start at the training camp in Newport Beach, CA. It was really nice to have a mechanic, soigneur (massage therapist), and team manager at every race. That let Heather concentrate on racing and only racing. PowerBar also gave Heather the opportunity to write daily race reports for the major races she competed in.

Being a great team really allowed Heather to shine this year. First, she went back East to the Olympic Trials in May. She really wanted to go to Atlanta this year, but only finished 12th overall when the trials were done. She did have a nice consolation prize: One of the qualifying races was also the U.S. National Road Race Championship. Also known as the Thrift Drug Classic, it a race held in Pittsburgh, PA on a challenging course with a very steep cobblestone hill. Heather finished 2nd there and got the Silver Medal. Later, in August the National Criterium Championship was held in Grandview Heights, OH. Heather had another good race. She initiated the winning break of seven riders, won the Queen of the Mountain competition, and finished 3rd (due to severe leg cramps) for the Bronze Medal. Her successes did not go unnoticed as she has just been invited to the United States National Team training camp in San Diego in February. This should be a great opportunity for her!

Heather had a big surprise this year when her parents announced that they were moving from Sandy, where they have lived for the past 17 years, to Park City. It was very difficult to leave a house with so many memories. Now her parents have a nice townhouse in Park City, and they don’t have to do any yard work!

Speaking of surprises, Uhl is now a full uncle with his sister Cosette having a beautiful baby girl named Kayla. This year for Thanksgiving we went back to New York to see the newborn and the rest of Uhl’s family. It was a lot of fun. We got to a lot of his family and friends.

We hope this holiday season finds you all happy and healthy. We want you to know that we think about you and wish you the best for the new year!