Thursday, April 2, 2009

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.

9 comments:

Ski Bike Junkie said...

"A" season versus "B" season. So far this year, you, Dug, UTRider, and maybe Adam have come to the dark (or should I say white?) side with me by determining that winter is, in fact, the "A" season, and that the bike is there to tide us over until it snows again.

Watcher said...

Aaron- we may be on opposite sides of the Spring debate (me=pro, you=anti) but we’ll be in the same neighborhood this weekend. Plan = Zen Friday PM, Guacamole + Little Creek Sat, Gooseberry Sun, though we might reverse Sat/Sun. Anyway if you see a group of 4 w/a tall skinny guy on a gray Ellsworth, that’s me.

UtRider said...

I'm still unsure of what exactly happened to me this winter but yeah, who cares about riding. I'll have plenty of time to do that in another few weeks. Right now all I can think of is filling my canteen with as many ski days as possible to get me through the next 7-8 months!

South County Ciclista said...

Well take this family trip and ride bike paths with your kids in the bike trailer and let your wife sleep in without the kids. Maybe that will clear your head and score point for later.

KanyonKris said...

I'll be down south too. My wife is racing, I am not. My plan - pre-ride Cholla course Fri PM, ride JEM + Hurricane Rim + Gould Sat AM, Barrel Roll or Zen Sat PM. I'm open to other plans.

StupidBike said...

Mark Ski-Bike is Jim Jones, Dug, Adam, Ut-rider and maybe even you are getting ready to kill a congressman and drink some flavor-ade

Wait, several of you already have 29 inch wheels and single speeds.

end times, end times.

dug said...

remember in jeff goldblum's remake of the fly (of course you do), when his wife says "you're getting worse."

what does he say?

he says "NO! I'm getting BETTER!"

Aaron said...

Brandon - my trailer is currently out of order. Are you planning on using yours this weekend?

Watcher and KK - looks like you have some (fetchin') good rides lined up. Shoot me an email (see my profile) to let me know when and where.

Grizzly Adam said...

Can't there just be two 'A' seasons?