six (plus twenty-six) years in a raincape

given that the weather today disintegrated into total crap, i had resigned myself to yet another session of garage-time on the rollers. that didn't work for me, i nearly slid back into the dark ages of SAD as soon as i went in there, looked at the apparatus and my bike, and thought for two seconds about what i was intending to do.

i turned around and went to the gear locker an pulled out the "severe duty" garments- the waterproof Pearl Izumi Gore-Tex slacks and my ol', trusty raincape and put 'em on over the rest of the monkey-suit.

sometimes the rollers just ain't gonna do it, and i have to be outside no matter what the weather is. and the truth is that it wasn't all that bad. besides, what's going to happen when you have to race in foul conditions if you never train for it?



socks go over the shoes, just like underwear are worn over the pants.






headed out on the fixie for some hard, satisfying efforts. besides, it's a lot easier to wash a fixie than the geared roadbike (which just received a Euro-wash (c), a fresh set of cables, and some nice, new Cinelli cork tape). sometimes it's not so bad to have a small fleet to choose from.

it felt really great to be out there, just like the old days down in Boulder. riding because it's time to ride, not because i managed to wait it out and it's finally 65 and sunny.

i'm not a pro anymore and i don't have time to train like one anymore, either. i have to make the most of what little time i have, though. just like it was back when i was livin' the life.

with all due respect to the master Joe Parkin for making a play on his blog title, it has actually been that many years that i have been riding and training in the foul weather. never made it to Belgium, but i did manage to do at least one race in France during the month of July in all of that time. now i'm motivated to race again this year and have managed to bank some good fitness over the winter.

it smelled all good and fresh and like sage out there today. the cranes and meadowlarks are back and making a lot of noise out in the fields. there's some green stuff starting to sprout, too.
i have a feeling that this is going to be my best year ever... and even though i am old, i'm not too old to back that one up.







here's some motivation and inspiration for all of the fair-weather whiners out there. these two images are from the blog Copenhagen cycle chic where the art of commuting while looking fashionable has been raised to the highest of aesthetics. they aren't at all afraid of a lot of snow or sub-zero temperatures, either. riding on their ancient townie bikes, the women over there seem to be a whole lot tougher than the girly-boys over here who can't ride a bike all winter because the trails have some snow on 'em and think that only wimps in tight clothes ride roadbikes. waaaaaaah waaah wah

and they make it look easy and fun while riding in the snow as well. those Europeans have it all, don't they?