Change of Pace

It seems like the first day of Spring is always shitty. As it was this year too. Cloudy and 50, blah. Yesterday was great though. I rushed out of work and took off on the road of course since the trails are still too wet to ride. I decided I needed to mix it up a little. The road gets so monotonous after a while. The first change I decided to make were my shoes. I always wear these really old pair of silver Sidi's when I'm on the road. But I figured, hey I'll take a walk on the wild side and wear my black ones (which I haven't worn since about last August). I finished getting ready and took off. Almost immediately I realize why I haven't worn these shoes. I had forgotten that last summer I had messed up the cleat and it was quickly apparent I did not fix it correctly. My right foot was was severely pigeon toed. However, I just didn't feel like going home, so I just fought it throughout my ride.

Next I decided to takes roads I usually don't to help mix it up some more. There's reasons I don't take these other roads, they're hilly. So I have now a crooked foot and riding hills. I keep going and ride further and further away from home. Eventually I figure I should head back so I take off up this road that looks pretty steep, it even feels steep when I drive on it. Very shortly into my climb I hit my last gear. I think "No, this can't be". I look up ahead and it just gets more steep. I'm struggling to go up. I try to shift again, thinking maybe I just didn't push hard enough. But nope, no more gears. I'm now fighting so hard that I'm weaving around. I'm thinking I haven't had this much of an issue going up a hill in years. This is crazy. Cars going by are giving me tons of room as I look like I'm totally out of control and about to dart in front of them at any moment as I thrash around fighting to get up the hill. It was pathetic. But eventually I came to the top. Ugh!

I was working my way back home and took another detour down a road I never even drive on, not alone ride. So I was just casually spinning at this point. Just taking in the day when this guy comes flying past me. He practically brushes me as he goes by. It takes me a second, and I survey my options. A. I could let him go. Or B. chase him down. Well of course I had to choose option B. So I clicked up a few gears and took off. I caught him and just sat on his wheel as I still didn't know the road and wasn't sure what lay ahead, but was pretty sure it was a hill. Sure enough it was, and he noticed I was there and was fighting ever so hard looking back and cranking harder in his drops. When we hit the hill he popped and I just went around. Mission accomplished.

I kept working my way home. My foot still bothering me. By now my ankle and my knee were too. But it was a good day. The clouds rolled in and it dropped about 10 degrees it seemed just as I was about 10min from home. So it was a good day.

Beached Whale

I got to ride and climb yesterday. So I am exhausted today. Yeah maybe not the best idea to ride and then try to climb. But it's the way it worked out.
So last night I was having a rough night. I couldn't make several reaches. They just seemed to be a million miles away. I have developed a bad habit too of getting to the second to last hold and then panicking and giving up. So after numerous efforts and failing I went over to work on this one route I've been messing with for about a week. It comes out of a cave, around a wall, and then up over the top of a overhang. A picture would be better, but I don't have one. Anyway, you basically have to hug the wall and have almost no holds, (foot or hand) and you have to get out and around and up on top. The inside of my legs are all sore and bruised from attempting and failing numerous times on Saturday. But last night first try, bam, around and up I went. When I got on top though I did what Marc refers to as the "beached whale". Instead of gracefully and confidently standing up and walking my way up the slope, I decided as much surface contact was best and flopped my body up and wiggled to safety. But hey, I still made it, yeah!!!

St Patty's Day

I love St Patrick's Day. It's a great Holiday. You get to wear green (which is one of my favorite colors). And it's a day dedicated to fun. What's a better holiday then that?
Last night we celebrated St. Patrick's Day a little differently then normal. Usually we go out, get in the mix of the festivities, throw back a few and just enjoy the madness that is the day. This year we went climbing. We were supposed to go on Friday so we could still go out last night, but it snowed. So then we had to make a decision. What to do, climb or go out? After much discussion we finally decided on climbing. I was still torn all the way there. Once we got there though everything else faded away.
Climbing takes me to a place that cycling and playing doesn't. It's hard to explain. I can talk about riding forever. How I rode, how I felt, what it was like, etc... Playing is the same thing. Whether I played something clean, or am all thumbs, or learned a new piece. But climbing I have trouble with. It's all so new. It's hard to tell a bad day from a good day. Some days I finish a lot of routes I try (this happened once), other days I don't (which are most), but I can pick something else good out of it, like I learned how to hug a wall (which really hurts by the way) or I got part of the way through a problem that I wouldn't even have considered a few weeks ago. But it's more than my performance that's enjoying. There's something in the way it makes me feel. It gives me such a sense of peace. While I'm climbing of think of nothing else. It's like I've entered into another world and everything else is briefly washed away. The social aspect is great too. Everyone is so nice and friendly. We kinda kick back and talk a little and climb a little and discuss how we can attack it differently. Meanwhile Marc is flinging his body across the mats as he can't help but jump around on the floors.
So anyway, that's what we decided to do this year for St. Patrick's Day. A little quieter, a lot more sober, but still relaxing, just more peaceful. I would say less painful too, but really just a different type of pain. Instead of a hangover, I can't move my fingers and my muscles ache.

Marc said I'm not allowed to write about the weather being nice anymore. Every time I do we get this. (this is all ice!)

In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb



A week ago it was snowing.














The other night this was the beautiful sunset and 62 degrees at 7:30pm.









See I have proof. 62 really.

Last night was 75, but I have no proof. I was on my bike instead of in my car.
Riding is so much better than driving.

Spring Is Here!

Well not really. But it sure does feel like it today. Wow is it a nice change. When I went to work this morning it was pouring. I even had to take an alternate route due to flooding. I figured another night on the trainer, ick! But as the day went on I noticed it starting to clear. I didn't think much of it until I walked outside and the wind hit me in the face. I braced myself for the shocking cold, only to find a nice warmth instead. mmm This is a nice surprise, I thought it was supposed to be crappy into tomorrow sometime. I checked the temperature when I got to my car. 62 degrees! OK, that's it, the race was on to get home and get on the bike. Luckily I hit very little traffic. I checked out the roads and they looked dry, yeah! I got home, changed super quick and took off. I was determined to soak up as much warmth as I could.
It was amazing. I just kept on riding further and further away from home and didn't even care. It was great. I didn't have to dress like the Michelin man for a change too, so I felt nice and light. It makes such a difference. I did make one mistake. As I got down to Newark I decided to go down Creek Road. Yeah, I should have known better just by the name being Creek Road that it might still be wet. Well wet is actually an understatement. It had streams running across the road. Where everywhere else was sunny and dry. Here it was soaking wet, dark with heavy shade, and then I hit the ice. ICE! I didn't see any all day and here was a giant patch across the road. I figured I'd ride it since it had to be slushy. ha ha ha Yeah right. It wasn't. I caught myself just a moment before falling into the rushing swollen creek that the road runs beside. The next ice patch I was smarter. I got off and walked. After getting off that road I was back out in the sun and warmth of the day. I ended up riding a little too hard and a little too long for what I had planned, but it was awesome and just what I needed. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Old Phil said it'd be an early Spring. Just not sure how early that is though. I doubt today, but it was nice anyway.

Danger!

All is right with the world. Ahhh... I think I just needed a shower. Sunday I got a shower after my ride. Monday morning as it was freezing when I woke up due to the lack of heat neither Marc nor I took one, we just got dressed and went on our way. No problem right. Just one day. Then came Tuesday morning.
I get up and turn the shower on to heat up and brush my teeth then I check the shower and it's still cold. mmmm So I do something else, and check again, still cold. At this point I'm running out of time, so I quickly wash my hair and tell Marc there's no hot water and I leave for work. A couple hours later I get a call from Marc. Turns out when we ran out of propane our pilot went out on the hot water heater. Great.
So last night I come home and I ride, thinking I'll get a shower shortly when Marc gets home to light the pilot. Then I had to go to guitar. Yeah I was funky. But hey, what ya gonna do. I had to ride. So I piled on deodorant and changed into fresh clothes and headed off. When I get home Marc is in the basement reading the instructions. Turns out they're not real easy to follow and there's only about a billion warnings you could kill yourself. So we get more and more nervous. After numerous phone calls trying to get a hold of someone that could give us some kind of guidance, Marc reaches Tom. Yeah! So Tom walked us through it. Finally we got it lit and it started working. Unfortunately water doesn't heat up immediately, so off to bed we went.
This morning it was great. I got up and turned on the hot water and there it was. I filled the bathroom with steam, ahhhh so refreshing. I've been in a better mood all day.