For me, this time of year between winter and actual spring is one of the worst times. It can often LOOK like it’s a beautiful spring day but upon leaving the house you quickly realize that it’s only 30˚ with a 20+ MPH wind which makes it feel like it’s 15˚ and despite the winter gear that you stuffed your muffin top into you want to turn around, head home and crawl into your still warm bed in the Chamber of Farts.
The “you” in the above scenario is, of course, me, and this happened to me on my rides on both Friday and Sunday and resulted in varying degrees of suck that left me wanting a new hobby that doesn’t require freezing my face off and uncontrollably cussing into the deafening wind like a Tourettes riddled fat man in a lycra sausage casing.
Usually, just about any ride can set a positive tone for the day, but in the cases of Friday and Sunday, they just made me feel defeated and cold… especially cold. I know in a month this will change and I’ll barely remember wanting to sell my bikes and take up a more indoor friendly sport like competitive masturbation but right now I’m lusting for miles, routine, and lost pounds. None of that is consistently happening and from looking at the weather forecast we have about another week or more before things begin to become more normal.
Back when I “raced” bikes1 I would force myself out in just about any kind of weather, and if I didn’t do that I forced myself to ride an hour or more on the trainer. However, now I don’t “race” or race bikes, I ride for fun and fitness and lately, I have not been having fun.
So many of the old barns are being torn down. My camera and I are going to miss them.
As I type this it’s sunny and 25˚, That means that even with highs getting up into the 40s today it will be around freezing at my ride time. This presents me with the challenge of riding in the cold yet again or choosing something else to do that will have me burning some calories. I admit I have NO desire to ride today but when I look at the weather forecast and see the rest of the week filled with rain, snow, wind and any various other forms of precipitation Ma Nature can think of pissing down on Michigan, I think I should.
Then again, training indoors with thoughts of fame and fortune in the C.M.L.™2 coursing through my head also seems like it could be pretty OK.
Despite the suck level of the past two rides, here are some pics I took of them, as well as a couple from my time at the shop on Saturday.
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Later.