fighting the cold war

I really can't complain, it hasn't been that bad, not as bad as the last two years.  That doesn't mean that i feel great about winter.  i can't stand winter.  the gray skies, the cold...the COLD....that is what gets me most.

even with gear and layering and more wool than a flock of sheep, it still gets to me, and it brings me down.  not just when i'm on the bike, but all the time.

i went for a brief ride today, had to road ride because of the wet, even though it hasn't rained in two days.   i don't know how people who live in rainy places cope.   i would turn into Jack Nicholson from the Shining.   there was enough cold in the air to make it overall unpleasant.  it was a struggle.  so many people ride to train, and are always training, and love to push themselves and fight.  i ride for fun, because i love to ride.  i still ride in shitty weather, i ride no matter what, but i don't enjoy it as much as when the weather is nice.   no matter how many rule #9 rides i do, i don't feel like a badass and i don't feel like i accomplished anything afterward.

*that was cool, as i sit here, feet freezing, typing, i just got a text saying the dirt is awesome.   looks like tomorrow is gonna be a great, if not cold, day.

anyway,  every year i go through this.  i should just move to Phoenix so i'll be warm all the time. my consolation, the thing i have going for me..... I only have about two and a half weeks left, then i will be down in Arizona, soaking up sunshine and riding red dirt among the pink jeeps and overweight tourists smoking.   we are gonna have a kick ass time, as we always do.

all i have to remember is....it doesn't last too long.  when i get back, it will only be a few more weeks until it warms up and i am back to shorts and short sleeves.

then, in about 11 months, i'll do it again.

my failed S24O

got me a brand new lightweight sleeping pad today, all ready for tonight's adventure.  i was gonna do a sub 24 hour overnight trip, where i bike out to a spot, camp overnight, wake up, and bike back home.  all the cool kids are doing it, i figured i should too, even though i'm about as cool as a blacksmith's furnace.

i packed my bag with the bare essentials, made sure the bike was good, and i was ready to go.

all i had to do was bike about nine miles, mostly road, get to the spot i previously reconnoitered,  and sleep under the stars.  i would wake up tomorrow, bike back into town, and it would have been glorious.

nature gave me a big fat NOPE.  i pedaled out, it was a bit windy, the sky looked threatening, but not too bad.  as i got closer to my destination, the wind picked up and the sky looked worse.  i couldn't really tell if it was raining where i was going (it wasn't supposed to rain) or if was just dust and dirt being kicked up.

flags i passed were straight out.  at one point, i had to fight to keep my bicycle upright, much less going forward.  the wind all but stopped me in my tracks, nature putting it's invisible hand against my chest, with a "you shall not pass" whispering in my ear.

i am not a smart man, but i can eventually take a hint, and i have nothing to prove.  i have spent many days and nights doing various sufferfest things.  sometimes i feel like Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon.  I'm getting too old for this shit.

i turned around, pedaled home, and my cool overnight adventure amounted to a 45 minute road ride on a full suspension bike with a backpack on.

i can't go tomorrow cause i have to work on saturday.  so it will have to wait for another day.

hopefully soon.

until then....fuck you nature.  i don't know why you gotta be like that.

moments of zen

after a night of beer and cookies (and wine and other stuff) i woke up this morning slightly less energetic than i needed to be.  no matter, bacon and eggs fix a lot of things.

i had planned on getting on the trail by 7:30 am.  i had planned on 35 miles, about six hours of riding.  everyone knows about "the best laid plans of mice and men."  there wasn't any grief, but there was a bit of pain.  also, i was a superhero to three people.  i saved lives today.

on the trail by 8:45.  the first bit, which usually takes me about three hours, only took me about two, two and a half.   i started wondering if this is what being fit feels like.  you can ride, and you aren't tired at the spots you usually are.  you have strength and energy, and it wasn't a lot of effort.   perhaps i was just too hungover to notice.  the weather was cooperating fully with me.  it was cool, almost cold, it started to get windy, but the wind was just there to cool me down,it wasn't nature's bully there to push me around and hinder forward momentum.   at one point i was wondering if it was a dream, i was riding so well.  the "worst climb in the universe" wasn't all that bad, and the descent to the halfway point was excellent.  i was feeling great.

here's the thing.  throughout the day, i had these....moments of zen.  i tried to, at least.  i wasn't thinking, there was no "me" and no "bike" and no "trail."  there was mebiketrail.  i cannot say it was exciting, or happy, or anything.  it just....was.  in retrospect, it was cool and awesome, but at the time, in the moment, it just.....was.
at the halfway point i refilled my water, drank some coconut water, and had a bit or two, not a whole thing, of Cliff Bar.

then came the most difficult trail on the list.  it is arduous, onerous, strenuous, and almost prohibitive.  i've done it a few times, more than a few times really, but i usually start with it, or just do it alone.  i have never ridden it after about two and a half hours of already riding somewhat technical trail.

i have to say, it was a pleasant hike with my bicycle.  the problem is, my legs started to cramp.  this got me thinking, i'm usually ok, and then, following the "eat before you are hungry" rule, i eat something, and then i start to bonk.  what the ever living fuck is that about???  i was pissed at myself for eating two goddamn bites of a Cliff Bar.  i didn't want it, but i ate it, and then my legs started getting weird.  

the weather was still in full cooperation, i pedaled, walked, pedaled, walked, pedaled until i was done with the trail, i decided to cut the ride short and skip at least one, maybe both of the final two trails that would complete the whole ride.  i just had to ride a few more miles back to the car.  my legs felt like they were about done.

i pedaled easy and argued with myself if i should do the last trail or just go to my car.  about 100 yards before the final decision to ride trail or head back to the car (both actually being about the same distance) i met an older couple.  they were walking some moderately techy parts.  they were on hardtails.   they told me they were going to go back on the trail i had just done.  i told them no, that was not for them, and suggested the final trail that i was going to do.   they don't know it, but i saved their life.

had they taken the trail they wanted, they would have finished, at best, with a huge fight and possible divorce, and at worst, it would have been a survival/rescue mission.  they were in no way equipped, either with gear, skills, or fitness, to do what they had planned.  they were cool about it too and i hope they had a great time.  two people rescued.

then at the decision point, i met a lady with a flat, we tried to fix it, no dice.  i told her my car was just over yonder, i would take her to her truck at the main parking lot.  since i would have had to wait for her, i just rode the last trail, it was great, i was super proud of myself.  i got to the car and helped the lady she was my third rescue of the day.

at the end of the day, i rode (and walked) about 25 miles, in about four and a half hours.   the really neat thing about it all was, if i hadn't decided to cut it short when i did and head back, there would be two possibly dead people on the top of a mountain, and a lady would have had a shitty walk back to her car.

it all worked out, and i had a kick ass day.

then i came home, took a shower, and collapsed into a pleasant coma.  great day overall.

i love bicycles.  they make great things happen.

i wanna make this a bumper sticker.

sitting around with friends, eating sushi, slightly altered, we got to talking.   There was a small group of people behind us who were tri-athletes, two of them had come into the shop today, one with a road bike trying to be tri, one with a tri bike trying to be a roadie.  

so we commenced mocking them.  choose something and be good at it, don't choose three things and be mediocre at all three.

anyway, i came up with this cool slogan, and then i came home and made it.  now i just have to actually pay money and make it into an actual sticker.

yeah...my work here is done....