Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

I woke up early this morning, right at sunrise, and the first thought through my head was I'm so lucky to wake up to all of this.  I could hear the mourning doves cooing, the finches singing, and other birds joining in to welcome the morning. No car noise. No people noise. Just birds. After getting in my morning walk with Ado, and after feeding him, I jumped on the bike. The wind the first few days this week was awful. 20-30 mph with gusts to 40. Not much fun to cycle in, so this morning, with the wind out of the west at 9 mph, I decided a ride was in order. Thirty hot and sweaty miles later, I rolled into the driveway. I had to laugh when I looked at my stats. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to go 15 miles out. It took me 45 minutes to go the fifteen miles back. The whole time I'm cycling into the wind I keep telling myself it'll be worth it when I turn around. And it is so worth it.  I'm averaging 30 miles each ride at this point. Not bad for only having a good...

And another semester has come to an end. Grades are in. Self-eval has been completed and sent to my boss. Just a few odds and ends, tidying up some paperwork matters remain. Nothing pressing. Ahhhhhh. While I'm happy to have reached the end of the semester and am more than ready to launch into summer, I know for a few days I'll wander around in a daze, feeling like I don't know what to do. This happens nearly every May. After five months of being in overdrive then suddenly finding myself in neutral, the no demands on me throw me into a sort of limbo, as if I'm floating slowly and haphazardly through space. Usually I need a week to find my bearings. To help myself get a grip more quickly this go-round, and to get some mileage in place before my "real" ride begins June 1, I committed myself to getting up early and going out for 25-30 miles each morning this week. Yesterday was Day 1, and I couldn't have asked for a nicer morning. Though it was on the c...

Yesterday, after cleaning up my work space in the garage and reading the first 5 or so pages in The Blue Book of Bicycle Repair (did you know the threads on bolts slope up depending on what side they're supposed to be on; bolts for the right side of the bike slope up to the right and bolts for the left side of the bike slope up to the left--that's so cool), I decided to take a break and enjoy a short ride. I didn't really have a destination in mind, but I did know I eventually wanted to go to the hardware store for some super glue. While I was cleaning my work space, I realized my super glue had dried up. It comes in handy for all sorts of things (though I tend to glue my fingers together each time I use it), so I wanted to have some on hand. Like usual, I rode in the streets. Call me hard-headed, but I truly believe the more cyclists are visible in the streets, the more motorists will begin expecting them and driving more carefully because of them. I also believe cyclis...

Well, I didn't lose it exactly. For some reason, the widget wasn't updating, and no matter how many times I tried to replace it with the correct information, it just kept giving my training recorded a day during early last week. I decided to just delete it for now. Maybe whatever is ailing the widget will get fixed over the next few days and I can replace it. I kind of liked having it as I could see each day the increasing mileage for the year. Last year, I ended with 748 miles of combined running and cycling. Most of the mileage came from cycling, so this year, one of my goals is to up the running miles, try to end the year with more than the 37 I logged for 2010. I actually did have more than 37. I just didn't start logging my workouts until August. I may have had around 40 given my lack of enthusiasm towards running. I'm actually doing pretty good with the running. During the lovely three-week break from school, I found myself looking forward to working out, and I ...