I love riding outside, but...

But I hate cleaning salt and sand off the bike afterwards. It was 45 in Chicago today, and it started raining about 5 minutes after I got out there. I rode down the lakefront until I saw lightning, then hauled ass home. There were 40mph wind gusts from the south, so it was slow going on the way down. There's really nothing like giving it your all in a sprint and not quite hitting 20mph. On the other hand, there's no feeling like easily exhausting a 10speed cassette on the way back, either. Average speed just shy of 30 on the way back.

And Now I have a few hours of cleaning in front of me. If you'll excuse me.

I can't wait 'til it's warm again

From WGN Chicago:
... Wind Chill Advisory Wednesday night and Thursday morning... The wind will be 12 to 18 mph which will give wind chills of 15 to
24 below zero by sunrise.

This cold snap is getting tiresome. I can't ride, but that's no surprise this time of year. The real problem is that I have to put on five layers just to walk to class, then take 'em all off once I get to my classroom. It's getting old. Can't we just have some of the 40 degree weekends Bryan keeps talking about?

Addendum

With our minus 20 windchill, I'm staying inside for the day and just reading cycling news before I get on the trainer in a few hours. So I found this gem on slowtwitch.com: it's an interview with Dave Zabriskie in which he talks about riding for Slipstream, then lies about how little he trains. There is no way in hell that man rides only 15 to 20 hours a week and rides as fast as he does. I mean, I know he became one of the best TT guys in the world without ever having set foot in a wind tunnel, but I wouldn't even be successful in the 4s if I trained that little. I'm getting a little off topic here. Here's my favorite portion of the interview:

SlowTwitch: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Dave: I see myself as the most powerful man in the chamois cream business.

This dude is so weird, and totally crazy. But I love him.

It's COOOLD

At the time of this writing, it is 4 degrees outside. It's going to be nine degrees below zero tonight. And the heat just went out in my apartment. So in case I freeze to death (even though I'm wearing two pairs of sweatpants, a track jacket, and two sweaters), it's my landlord's fault. Got it? Good.

No new shoes.

Fuck.

I am a terrible blogger.

Really, I never update this thing. Sorry guys. I'm pretty sure only three or maybe four people read this thing anyway.

Very successful trip to Santa Barbara. The last time I was there I was recently post-op, so I couldn't bring my bike. Or swim. And since there was a fire near SB, the fire department had to give special instructions on evacuations to the disabled...including me. Which was great. But this time, I was on pretty good shape, I had the new Tarmac, and I had just installed the new Dura-Ace shift levers and Phil Wood bottom bracket. I rode about 3 hours a day and even did La Cumbre Peak. It's 4,000 feet up and you start at the beach. I don't have a Garmin or anything, but someone who does said you climb about 5,000 feet in total if you start from the beach. In 12 miles. It's awesome. At the steepest pitch (about a 15% for something like half a mile, and at the TOP), I was in my easiest gear with a cadence of 64. It was fun.

Since then, I've only ridden about 5 miles. So I wasted all that fitness. Oh well. Riding with Bryan tomorrow, so hopefully I'll do better on that ride than on previous ones. Bryan and/or Munson have dragged me back home a few times lately.