The Hard Months

January and February always seem to be the hardest months. The weather is often cold and windy, the days short and the motivation shorter. Unfortunately, these are also two of the most critical months for training "down south" where the racing starts early and is in full swing by early April. If you procrastinate too long you find yourself struggling through the early races and then finally coming into top form just in time for the mid-summer lull when the real heat starts to take the starch out of both the promoters and the riders. So with that in mind, I piled on the clothes this morning and stepped out into the 30-degree air to ride over to the levee. It was, of course, dark and windy, and the streets were deserted, and as I rode though the neighborhood streets contemplating the wind chill, I figured the bike path would equally deserted. So I was already braced for a cold lonely ride when I was surprised to find Erich up there right on time. Well, I guess he was on time. My watch was buried under two or three layers and I wasn't inclined to dig it out. We waited a minute for Woody, and the three of us headed out with a nice little tailwind to take the chill out of the first three miles. Just as we got to the Playground we spotted a blinky light down on River Road and knew immediately it must be Donald. Since four bikes are always better than three on a cold windy day, we waited for him to catch up before continuing. It would be a shortened ride today, and nobody was complaining about it. With our southern winter wardrobes and easy pace, we knew our feet would only be good for about an hour, so we turned around at the parish line. There was a pretty good wind that we had to deal with on the way back, so although the ride was short and relatively easy, we all did a good bit of work on the way home.

It's not looking like we'll get much relief from the early morning chill this week. Aside from Thursday the morning ride temperatures will range from 30 to 25 from now until Sunday. It might be time for me to go sign up for those Spin classes again.....