All last week as I “ran” on the Dreadmill™, and spun my wheels going nowhere on the trainer, I set my mind to go down to the Cannonsburg Ski Area to take photos at the fat bike and snowboard races they were hosting. I figured I could use the practice and getting outside would do me good.
Outdoor riding continues to elude me for a variety of reasons; first because of the abundances of rutted ice on many roads, then because it got cold as shit outside and for some reason this winter I am lacking the motivation freeze my tits off. Please note that “lack of motivation” is just code for my laziness, but that’s your call.
You may wonder how the following relates to a cycling blog. Stick with it, I have a point eventually, you just have to sift through some ranting. Keep in mind there is surely a dose of hypocrisy, preachiness, and anger even though in my head it all makes perfect sense. Read at your own risk, or feel free to read something not a crap cycling blog. It’s totally your call.
Over the past few months I haven’t been sleeping very well. There are many “might-bes” and “could-bes,” which include such things as too much coffee, not enough riding, worry that my family’s entire world could come crashing down at any moment, and an ever-growing affection for nihilism. No matter the cause, counting sheep, masturbating, counting sheep masturbating, and masturbating while counting sheep only gets one so far, and I’ve found myself with time to think. This is both good (the time has allowed me to put some creative wheels in motion), and bad (see much of this paragraph). However in addition to all of that I have also had some thoughts that hover in the middle grounds between fond memories, existential ennui, and the want for simpler times.
There has been a distinct lack of things happening over the past week. Quality outside riding was once again shelved due to ice, then deep mud, then ice again, now more crap snow. Then my running was shelved because I stubbed my toe and ripped the toenail off (that felt just as you might imagine), which left it looking like it was gnawed on by a wolverine.
Today was the return of various sorts of winter puke; rain, rain/snow mix, and finally wet snow. As of now not enough snow to make things fun, but enough to keep the roads–especially the dirt roads–crapper than ever.
My family and I spent a long weekend back in Pennsylvania paying our respects to Wifey’s grandfather who passed away last Wednesday. It was a sad weekend indeed, but it was a beautiful ceremony and it did well to celebrate the life of a great man.
With all that car travel, sadness, stress, and a jam packed non-stop schedule came poor diet choices and a complete lack of exercise. I feel like I put on ten pounds in four days!
Now home, I was anxious to bet back into the routine of daily exercise and eating healthier home cooked foods. Sadly the weather would not been cooperating for outside activities. As I’ve mentioned before, the past two weeks it was ice and slush, most of that is gone but the dirt roads are a quagmire of mud and standing water. The paved roads are clear but today we were socked in with fog and misty rain most of the day and I somehow lost my rear blinky in the garage somewhere. Not wanting to be struck down by a cement truck, I needed options.
What a week! Monday night’s five inches of snow turned into a snow day for B on Tuesday. Snow turned to rain Tuesday afternoon and melted most of the snow before 30-40 MPH winds kicked up and falling temps moved in overnight freezing everything solid. That resulted in second snow day on Wednesday. Then Wednesday night wet got a wintry mix of snow, rain, and freezing rain, followed by falling temps which meant another snow day on Thursday. HOLY GROUNDHOG DAY!
Even though school was finally back in session on Friday, everything was covered with a mix of frozen winter puke and that meant a fifth straight day of running on the treadmill. In my own way I’ve been enjoying the challenges and the pains of being a non-runner attempting to run, but five days in a row was a bit much. I needed to ride!
The weather goofs were right, we got snow. Yeah! About four inches or so, then it started raining and turned everything into a slushy, sloppy mess. Boo!! Now we’re getting 35+ MPH winds, more rain, and the temps are supposed to be dropping into the low twenties later. That should REALLY make things awesome by morning. I’ve learned to tolerated winter in the past few years by riding the Fatterson and snowshoeing, but wet snow, rain, ice, is about the worst ever. What sport or outdoor activity is done best in slush? Exactly.
I mentioned at least one to seventeen times in my two recent crap blog posts that I’ve been trying to workout more, even when that means not riding. I also mentioned that I’m trying to eat a little better, and a little cleaner. Thankfully that has all been happening as planned.
Since the New Year’s Day ride on Sunday the weather has not cooperated for outdoor ride fun. Monday was a day of getting stuff done and sort of recovering from “doing stuff” for six days in a row. Tuesday brought a day of rain, freezing rain, wind and 38˚ (no thank you, I’ll workout inside), Then on Wednesday we got the flip side of that– 40+ MPH winds, blowing snow (that seemed to be falling upwards rather than down), and 18˚ temps. Again, no thank you. However don’t be fooled by the pic of Jake (The Dog) hunkered down in his blanket, I’ve actually done stuff.
