Pre-dawn patrol

Is it a good idea to trade sleep for training time right now? I have no real loss to conisder. It will pay off in the end and might even add up to more sleep. I can be out on the skis at 5 or 5.30 am and perhaps ride a bit if properly bundled. Skis would be better, slow=warmth=good. Yesterday is on my mind, it was that good.

Nothing.

It was just that dark until the last little bit of skiing. Headlamp guidance and oddly a lot less fearful looks behind me. A bit over 2 hours. No one out there, I mean no one! It was perfect.

Beautiful

I guess the snow is really coarse when it is 2 degrees, the crystals are sharp and require a harder wax. I had an OK wax for the conditions, but the snow was even too hard to get any bite, skied off sort of. Just a miserable effort, kind of like racing cross on a full-cush mtb. Too hard to be considered anything other than work. It was beautiful.

Winter Work

The right gear makes all the difference. Proper cold stuff made the 90 minutes mostly in the dark that much more enjoyable. The stiff headphone cords was one of the few reminders that it was around 10. Too cold for slush and no need for fenders had me out on the rivet, repeats on the safer loops, the blinky keeping me safe from behind. Everything increases exponentially in the cold, the legs feel like I did double the work, the body still slightly stiff, soft touch on the handlebars, studded tire would give that confidence I lack. It all adds up nicely to proper Winter Work.

Hiding in the Dark

The dark is still scary but it's my only option most days. I get the feeling I'm being watched. The skis are great, skins better, up and up for a while, that's the fun part. Down, not so much. Quietly in the trees up one hill and down the next, too fast on the descents, lots of hip checking I wonder if I look edible to whatever it is that's watching me.

Stuff

Fooling around with cool web stuff instead of doing something constructive. OK. I'll go clean a bike.

Looking through Coke Bottles

I guess the redneck in the pickup with the Bush-Cheney sticker didn't like my cadence as he passed too close with his mirror and gunned it shoot diesel exhaust and slush in my face. I only disliked him for a minute then I got back to enjoying my slushy ride. Arriving at work to dry the clothes made me happier the more I thought about the ride. It just felt right, the saddle, legs, and traction in concert. My hands comfortably draped on the levers as the bike glided over icy bits and into the soft shoulder.

Dry

Looking across in the winter and seeing the next hill because the leaves are off the trees is one thing, but to look across the drainage and see the trail linking into the next gulch & I realize I'm riding mostly dry singletrack in January, that's a good winter ride. It's odd leaving feet of snow and slushy roads for this in only 45 minutes.

Forks

Waking up early doesn't frustrate me right now the way it does mid season. I know If I were really tired the sleep would come. Afterall the ski I did yesterday wasn't hard, other than the quantity of sweat I produced. It took an afternoon of Nuun to get my pee less-neon. The early thing is cool, the solitude is like a blanket inside the growing envelope. Always looking for new things to listen to and pass the awake time. Thinking about bikes and what I could do to make a certain bike more winter friendly, like a 1 inch cross fork so I could use the studded tire and not slip out and slide under a semi. Or, better shoulders so skiing didn't wreck me so easily. No, I'll go look on eBay for a fork.

Tomorrow

I didn't eat nearly enough today. I hate when I do that. It sneaks up on me and makes me crash mid afternoon. Rest days aren't supposed to be like that. Tomorrow is better, it always is. I know where the gaps are and what happens is good.