I sometimes wonder why I even go out...

Got home from church and thought - hey, its about to rain, ice and snow - why not ride? So, I took blue thunder out for the initial ride of the year and headed straight out 144 west bound to the Fletcher TT course - not out to beat any land speed records...I leave that up to the big dogs like b-train, wonderboy and the DUKE. My goal was to spin, take it easy, LSD ( Long Slow Distance - definition for Adolfo) for sure...I suck in cold weather anyway and the Pale Ale didn't help much this winter. I guess it isn't that bad but when you factor in the weather hanging in at or just below freezing, the wet roads, the soaked clothes and the driving wind...and that wind sucked in a big way. So my casual TT (time trial for my colleagues who dont know what "tt" means) time was 29:32 - and I guess I was trying at first with the wind at my back I was happy....the turn was brutal with lateral wind - my core temp dropped and the next turn into the wind was my downfall....I just cannot operate in that temp. What a sissy, I know but admitting is the first step to recovery.

I headed back and returned home the way I came and now the temp was for sure in the freeze zone and now my head wind was pure ice/snow/slop and I could not feel my toes, fingers and my gut was cold and I was really excited about going home...but the rollers were there so instead of cursing them out - I decided to take some pics.

I guess the rides like today really help in the sense that it sucks out there but you do it anyway. It doesn't take super skill to ride in bad weather - just no brains and I have a lot of no brains. I will say that the cold rides make the coffee taste sooooo good. My wife had hot brew waiting for me when I walked in the door - she is a sweetheart.

So 1.75 hours of riding at 18 avg for the entire ride - not bad all things considered.