Grey Skies and Holidays

This morning's ride was not what I'd expected. I had awakened a bit early and was taking my time about getting ready to ride. The outside thermometer revealed a cooler morning than yesterday's, and having left a few windows open overnight I was feeling the chill. The entire sky was overcast and uniformly grey, and I figured it wouldn't be warming up very much. I dressed out in the old "green" NOBC kit -- actually bits of two different generations of it -- since that's what was clean, and fumbled around in the dark for my knee-warmers. Since my arm-warmers were missing from their usual spot on the back of a chair, I figured they must be down in the basement with the bike, but a long search failed to turn them up. So I clomped my way up the wooden stairs in my riding shoes and started rummaging around in the darkened bedroom looking for them. It's hard to find black arm-warmers in the dark. Finally The Wife said, "What are you looking for? Turn on the light!" *Click* There they were, sitting on my dresser, partially hidden underneath a magazine. I glanced at my watch. Damn.

Now I was running seriously late and had less than ten minutes to get to the levee if I wasn't going to miss the group. I'd been hoping for a nice relaxing warmup, but instead it would have to be a good deal faster. Somehow I made it before they left and started to settle in for what I expected would be the usual easy Friday recovery ride. Soon, though, the pace started to ramp up as each rider coming to the front would nudge the speed up another notch. Scott looked over and said something about how this wasn't looking like it would be a typical Friday ride. The pace continued and soon Joe sat up and dropped off the back. Eventually things stabilized, albeit at a faster than usual pace -- for a Friday.

At work, with a week to go before a long holiday begins, there is the typical holiday combination of urgency and procrastination. Things that "must be done before the holidays" are on the front burner, pushing everything else aside into the "maybe over the holidays" bin where they will almost surely remain until after the holidays. More and more the threat of Christmas intrudes. There are decorations to put out, gifts to buy, and parties to attend. The Daughter will be gracing us with a visit before heading off for some snowboarding in one of those big states where it snows, and a good friend is hoping to come to town for a few days after Christmas. Meanwhile the kitchen project has not progressed in weeks, The Wife is feverishly working to finish a quilt before Christmas, and the bank account is leaking like a snake-bit innertube after a run-in with the Yule Log. At least there's the promise of a chilly but sunny ride out in the country on Sunday before the final sprint to the holidays begins in earnest.