Well, I've been able to ride in real, honest-to-goodness sunshine the last two days, and by the way things look right now, I should be able to get in two more rides during the day this Saturday and Sunday.

While this may seem lame to some, as a person who works from 8am-5pm, five days a week, I rarely see sunshine, unless it's through a window or perambulating the ten seconds from my car to the back door of the office. And days like this, despite the 35 degree weather, are pretty nice. I can go out, ride my bike for 2-3hrs, and get away from the hustle and bustle of life, to one degree or another. Especially on a mountain bike.

And, somehow, I got sunburned today. Perhaps it was the sun reflecting off the snow on the path, or the fact that my skin has reverted to its normal winter shade of "deathly ill white" and has little to no ability to resist burning at this point in the year. Whatever it is, I don't mind.

Anyways, I'm off to bed. Going MTBing with Jay and Ed tomorrow, and perhaps Tim if he can drag his lazy ass out of bed.

Oh, and the new word of the week is "roostin'"; it's an MTB term that I think relates to railing a hard turn on the very edge of your tire's traction/grip. Stolen from Adam Craig, US MTB champ. Funny dude.

Motivation: Falling

Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the lack of any (positive or negative) news, bicycle racing related or otherwise.

Right now, every time I look at my bike, I just want to go back inside, climb the stairs, hop into bed and pull the blankets to my chin, and go to sleep. Hell, every time I leave the house, I just want to get back in bed.

Maybe putting my non-disc PT wheel on the Paragon will help motivate me. Seeing feedback, aka how terrible I am right now, is the best source of "you best start ridin', boy" mojo I can think of right now*. Well, no. Getting your ass handed to you at SuperWeek is pretty damn motivating, but there aren't any 100km/62mi crits right now in this neck of the woods.

Or maybe some new 29er wheels?

Or a new 700c carbon rim? (Mother, are you reading this?)

Don't get me wrong. While I'm fond of new toys, bike parts don't "motivate" me. I don't race my bike to get free bikes or chains or inner tube caps. A nice perk, but not the reason for my prolonged interest in the sport. Bicycles and their components DO, however, give me something to look forward to, to help pass the time. I suppose any hobby would do that; I just happen to be sufficiently boring that cycling is both my only hobby, and athletic pursuit of choice. Cars and women might be a bit more normal, but if I day dream about either one of those in any detail whilst out on the bike, I might get hit by the former and run over the latter. So, I keep it nice and boring with bikes.

*=To any "socially networking" L'Eberts (that's French for "The Ebert") out there, I've been riding quite consistently. I've gained 2lbs, not 30lbs as I commented earlier.