The Itch.
Earlier this winter, it was looking like it would be an early spring. We just hadn't gotten a lot of snow, and what we did get was relatively compacted by warm spells. A warm March would have killed the piles enough to get me back on the road early.
Nope.
Stacked snow storms piled up a decent amount of late-season snow. The snow plows are running out of room on my road to store it. What this means is that the freeze-thaw cycles of early spring will be take a while to clear away those piles. Runoff will create skating rinks across the roads as the piles melt. Until the sewer drains clear, the puddles will pool and freeze, thaw, and re-freeze in areas. There isn't a huge amount of dark sand in those snow piles, which will also slow the melting process. In other words, it's going to take a while.
Meanwhile, my enthusiasm for the trainer is at its seasonal low. I would much rather be on the road bike, searing my lungs out in the cold air, over- or under-dressed for conditions and shivering as a result. I just want to be going somewhere on the bike. My fat-biking friends will smugly smile and tell me what I should do, just like they always do, but I've been there, tried that, and it didn't take. Riding a fat bike or a mountain bike or just about anything else isn't the same for me as riding a road bike.
Some years I get to do a short business trip in the spring. I always brought my bike, and was able to jump-start my season. This year, not so much. I'm being put out to pasture, and the younger guys are getting sent to the land of clear pavement, where they'll waste it by driving from shopping malls to restaurants to bars. I really don't care about any of that stuff if there's dry pavement and a less than 98% chance I'll get hit by a car while riding.
Yeah, I have the itch to ride. If I lived in a more temperate place, I'd probably burn myself out riding so much of the year. I did it in Mississippi in just three months, although their roads weren't the most inspiring I've encountered in my travels. There's only so much you can do the same loops before they get stale, and the last couple days there my body and mind were sorta cooked on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I might last longer in a place like California, but the end result would still be the same. I need forced breaks from an activity to ensure I come back raring to go. This drives me through the marginal early season. It gets me out the door on cold, rainy days. My early-season enthusiasm likely props up the entire secondary market for SRAM 10 speed road drivetrain parts.
I'm ready to go.
I may have to wait a bit longer, though.
Nope.
Stacked snow storms piled up a decent amount of late-season snow. The snow plows are running out of room on my road to store it. What this means is that the freeze-thaw cycles of early spring will be take a while to clear away those piles. Runoff will create skating rinks across the roads as the piles melt. Until the sewer drains clear, the puddles will pool and freeze, thaw, and re-freeze in areas. There isn't a huge amount of dark sand in those snow piles, which will also slow the melting process. In other words, it's going to take a while.
Meanwhile, my enthusiasm for the trainer is at its seasonal low. I would much rather be on the road bike, searing my lungs out in the cold air, over- or under-dressed for conditions and shivering as a result. I just want to be going somewhere on the bike. My fat-biking friends will smugly smile and tell me what I should do, just like they always do, but I've been there, tried that, and it didn't take. Riding a fat bike or a mountain bike or just about anything else isn't the same for me as riding a road bike.
Some years I get to do a short business trip in the spring. I always brought my bike, and was able to jump-start my season. This year, not so much. I'm being put out to pasture, and the younger guys are getting sent to the land of clear pavement, where they'll waste it by driving from shopping malls to restaurants to bars. I really don't care about any of that stuff if there's dry pavement and a less than 98% chance I'll get hit by a car while riding.
Yeah, I have the itch to ride. If I lived in a more temperate place, I'd probably burn myself out riding so much of the year. I did it in Mississippi in just three months, although their roads weren't the most inspiring I've encountered in my travels. There's only so much you can do the same loops before they get stale, and the last couple days there my body and mind were sorta cooked on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I might last longer in a place like California, but the end result would still be the same. I need forced breaks from an activity to ensure I come back raring to go. This drives me through the marginal early season. It gets me out the door on cold, rainy days. My early-season enthusiasm likely props up the entire secondary market for SRAM 10 speed road drivetrain parts.
I'm ready to go.
I may have to wait a bit longer, though.
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