More of the Same

It was just more of the same thing today - fog, wet streets, and lingering morning darkness. I had little enthusiasm for getting on the bike this morning, but fear of fatness somehow got me out the door anyway. Two jerseys, arm-warmers, and shorts were barely sufficient despite the relatively warm 59 degree air temperature. I doubt the relative humidity has dropped below 80% for the last three days, and of course in the morning it's always right at the dew point, or vice-versa, which is to say the air is fully saturated.

There was a heavy mist that was just short of rain, and I could immediately feel it on my face and arms where the dampness just cut right through the arm-warmers. For the first few blocks I fought off the voice of reason that kept whispering "go back home you fool" in my ear. One has to be careful about listening to the voice of reason sometimes. As usual, once I was thoroughly dampened by the fog and the chill had begun to stabilize, it was all better. You can never trust your instincts for those first couple of miles, you know. Sometimes new riders entering one of their first races will ask me what they should do. I often tell them to stay calm, near the front, and out of the wind for the first half of the race. By then, it will be clear what they can do for the second half. Training rides are like that too sometimes.

So anyway, there were just two of us up there today, except for a brief visit by Howard. Pretty standard Friday spin. Things should be getting a bit better, weather-wise, over the weekend, and there is nothing really cold in the forecast for at least the next week, but I'm sure the usual holiday chores and errands will consume much of the available riding time. That's OK. It's only December, right?

The area clubs and race promoters have been doing a great job of working out their final event dates, and I'm just waiting for one more date before putting the 2007 calendar up on the website. Hopefully most of them will be able to stick with their dates, because moving a race around after it is initially scheduled is never a good thing.

Someone posted a link to a bunch of photos from the NCURA party that was part of the D.C. meeting I attended in November. This is the band that is composed entirely of research administrator types (except for the woman who is actually on the NCURA office staff in Washington). Yeah, I'm in there somewhere.

The Daughter finished up exams last night, and will be leaving soon to visit with her roomate's family in Wisconsin, finally finding her way back here a couple of days before Christmas. We keep saying we'll take a couple of days off and try to make some progress on the stalled kitchen project, but it doesn't seem to be happening. When I was younger I'd just put in a few all-nighters and the thing would be done. Nowadays I'd rather have a couple of glasses of wine, put my feet up, and pretend I don't care until I fall asleep halfway through Jay Leno's monologue.