A New Spring, Well Sort Of...

So the spring classics have started and we are all well into our own spring training. Unless, you live in the Northwoods and you still have two feet of snow on the ground. We have have fewer than 5 days above freezing so far this year and had the coldest winter on record and were very close to a record for snow fall. Needless to say, my bike and I didn't venture outside much. I have spent more days on a trainer than I care to remember. I did have a discovery that made these days a bit more bearable.

The Sufferfest training videos provided me some direction, motivation, entertainment, and most of all accountability.  There is no try, is one of my favorites but you can't go wrong with any of them. I realize now that I am back outside on my bike how much I accomplished over the winter months. Usually the winter is trying not to lose much strength, but this winter I feel like I made some gains. The best part about The Sufferfest is the amount of interaction the staff has with it's customers. I have posted on twitter about my workouts and will receive some sort of acknowledgement from someone at Sufferfest within a day. This is a great investment for any time of the year.

Enough of the shameless promotion. I always find it a bit funny to ride by snowmobilers and ice fishermen. I am wearing some level of spandex and form fitting outerwear while they are bundled up for Arctic temperatures. I wonder if they judge me the way I judge them. I can just hear them saying to one another how crazy I am for cycling, wearing spandex, or just being me. I really wish they would be thinking what a beast, I can't believe he is out in this pushing himself. I am sure they hardly notice me and if they do they probably just think I am nuts. I know I am thinking that I am glad I am on my bike rather than sitting on the ice or sledding between bars.

Well.. I have been rambling as usual but here is my final thought for the day. I hope I don't get on the wrong side of the hooligans who shot up this sign.

Snow

We got our first snow today (pic is just the beginning)...and I am not impressed.

It was cold this morning as we headed out for what we planned to be a century ride, a bit over 32 degrees. The temperature rose slightly throughout the day, getting near 40 but after we stopped for some lunch it began to drop back down. We knew that the forecast was telling us that around three the rain might start and it began just before that and we were still about an hour out. With the rain beginning and the temp back at 34 degrees we started pushing harder to keep warm and make it back to our cars. We made it, we were wet, cold and as I always am after a big ride, hungry.

Shortly after I started towards home in my car the rain began to turn to snow and that trend continued for the rest of the night. We now have a thin layer outside.

This snow will not stick as the ground has yet to freeze but it means three things to me...

First, It is going to get a whole lot harder to ride my bike. It will take me five times longer to get dressed for a ride and I will have to thoroughly clean my bike after nearly every ride. The worst part is there will be fewer days that are safe to ride.

Second, ski season is nearly upon us. I am a pair of XC ski boots away to having a full set. My wife found a set of skis that were my size and were in reasonable shape at a local Goodwill and the other day we acquired some poles. This means I am getting close. While the Midwest is well known for being flat there are a few hills here in Wisconsin and in the U.P. that are reasonable to slide down on skis. Most of them even have chair lifts and ski patrols. As I do not have the funds to fly/drive to Colorado, this will due for now.

Third, it is cold. Everything you do in your daily life requires more planning. Driving to work means you need to let your car run for five minutes before you can leave. If it snowed the night before, well...everything needs to be shoveled or cleaned off. Any roads other than the main highways are left slightly covered and this makes traveling them both more fun and more time consuming.

Thanks for bearing with my slight rant about winter but the first snow is always a bit jarring. It means that winter is really around the corner and there is nothing you or I can do about it. The only way to defeat winter is by finding someway to enjoy it.

I will say, had we ended our ride in the snow rather than the freezing rain, I would have felt about two times as sweet.