What is WRONG with me?

Monday evening, my wife asks me what the weather is going to be like this weekend (she knows that as a cyclist/winter enthusiast, it is my duty to know the weather at least one week in advance). I tell her it's going to be snowing in the mountains and raining in the valley most of the weekend. Then she surprises me with this: "We don't have to teach our class this weekend, we should go somewhere warm. Let's go to St. George."

In years past, it's been me begging to schedule a trip to San Jorge in the spring. I'd make any excuse to get out of the cold and into the warmth where I can ride my bike on some of the best trails on the planet. To hear my wife suggesting a trip to St. George would have been music to my ears.

But this time, the excitement was all on the outside. Truth be known, I had my heart set on an all day touring session in the Cottonwoods. Up Silver Fork, hit Days Fork, Cardiff/Mill D, Mineral Fork, and out Mill B. Or something like that.

I guess with all of the snow up here, I'd rather be doing this (thanks, Adam):

Than this:

(BTW: if you blow this picture up, the sun actually makes my arms look like they have some semblance of muscle tone instead of what my arms really are: skinny bones covered by a thin layer of skin)

I actually feel like I'm partly missing out by heading south to ride the trails.

So I repeat. What the hell is WRONG with me? If I'm not careful, I'm going to have to change the title of my blog. Either that or start wearing a shammy during my touring and skate skiing sessions.

P.S. Although I'm sure this sounds crazy to most of you, I won't be racing on Saturday, despite the fact that I'll be in the area. Upper Management has made clear that this is a family trip, not a bike race trip (I know, I know - why should there even be a difference? Who doesn't like to hang out all day in the desert with 2 small kids and watch dudes in spandex ride by?). If the race started early, I might be able to pull it off, but with a 12:30 start, it would pretty my eat up the entire day.

So any riding I do pretty much needs to be wrapped up by 11am or so. Or maybe a night ride after the kids are asleep. On the positive side, with all of these 4:30am wake up calls for dawn patrol, getting up at 6am to ride my bike will be a piece of cake. If you'll be in the area and want to ride early/late on Sat/Sun, let me know. I'll try not to act disappointed about not playing in the powpow.