Last week started with about six or seven inches of snow and icy roads that forced schools to cancel. Somewhere in the middle of the week the temps warmed up towards 50˚ and the aforementioned snow all but melted. Then come to the end of the week the temps dropped again and froze the roads solid which aided me in finally getting out for a ride.
I hadn’t ridden outside since the 3rd of February. Most of that time was spent lumbering atop the treadmill for three miles a day. As a result of that, I actually started to see improvement in my running (or is it just jumping when you do it on a treadmill?). I was almost sort of disappointed when Saturday rolled around and cooperated with me getting a chance to ride outside. I was really starting to think that another day of lumbering 12-minute miles would have me on pace to start thinking about signing up for the Western States 100. Lucky for me my want to ride my bike in the cold and take pictures is stronger than my urge stumble along a rubber belt moving 5 miles per hour.
The roads were almost entirely void of snow and ice but I rode the Fatterson anyway. It was too cold to not wear the Lake winter boots, and they don’t mesh well with the chainstays on the Boone and my PrOcal is hung up for the winter with two flat tires and a missing saddle. So I huffed and puffed my way along frozen dirt on a studded fat-tired beast when I probably could have been on a road bike with 23c tires. That which doesn’t kill you… blah, blah, blah.
I’ve always said that at this time of year I am happy enough to get outside once a week, so when the time between outdoor rides started stretching towards two weeks my mood started getting pretty crap. For me, it’s not just about riding my bike; it’s time alone to think, take photos and a reason to share them here and/or on the I.G.. I am lusting for warmer temps and longer rides but I know full well that while temps will slowly creep upward in the coming weeks, there is still more snow, cold rain and ice ahead. So until then, I will continue to live in the world where riding my bike once a week ain’t so bad.
Later.