The weather is crap again. Or, it never really stopped being crappy from my last post. It’s only midway through December but I feel like its February. It has been down right arctic the past week. As some of you know I hate being cold down to my last fiber. I try to confront my hatred head-on though. I choose to ignore being cold. The Wifey has been trying to purchase me a winter coat for years to no avail. I have a thin little 50degree Bontrager rain jacket that I call the winter coat. Works beautifully…….for 50degrees. My fickle brain says if I wear a giant puffy fagish winter coat, I admit defeat. I’m pretty sure the temperature hasn’t been above 30 since the Sat/Sun. This hasn’t stopped me from ridding to/from work this week. I like doing this for a couple reasons. One, as I’ve stated, driving to work is admitting defeat. Second, is knowing that if I KNOW I can ride when mercury reads 10, I KNOW I can fly when it reads 25 or 30 or 35. 40 is balmy. VisitPA Ray also rode in this week as well. Even Kenny rode in yesterday. Mucho macho men.
All this leads me to something I wonder about. The human spirit. ‘Cross Nationals were held last weekend up in RI. Without me. I’ve read the reports and seen the pics & videos. Nutty weather. Friday was the worst in terms of bad weather. Temps in the low 30’s, 3-4 inches of snow followed by sleet/freezing rain/rain/heavy rain accompanied by 25-35+mph winds. Mike’s race, 35-39, is when the it all hit at once. Video from parts of that race can be seen via a link on Hebe’s blog. 150+ racers started the race. Approx 50 or so finished. Without being there, and I will be next year, I wonder what goes through an individuals mind as he races in crap like that. What makes 100 guys drop out when 50 DID finish. They’re all racing in the same conditions. Is it physical? Mental? Both? What makes a dude who finishes regularly a minute or two or three behind another but on this one day in these conditions finish when the other doesn’t. I know quite a few of the people that did the race, finish or not, were driven to an emotional depth that they never thought they could or would ever want to reach. A level of cold that only an Eskimo would have a handle on. I'm sure i'd have DNF'd that race. Or not, I guess it's almost as easy to say I wouldn't have than it is to say I would have. Without being there it's silly for me to say. One thing is for certain, my hat is off to everyone who raced at Nationals especially those who raced Friday. It’s unfortunate that the weather was what it was last weekend. It sounds as though the course would have been awesome otherwise. Regardless, some had great weekends. I was happy to see Ryan Leech(The MAC’s fastest) had a great race Saturday. 14th in the Men’s Elite. If you read his thoughts, I think he was pretty stoked as well. Nice ride. Fort James did a nice ride in the B race. So, the season is done. No more ‘cross until next fall. When will Dieter begin counting down the days?
It’s official. The Wifey and I now live in a WirelessDSL home. Pretty sweet. Faster than I ever imagined. It took a while for the Verizon techies to remotely figure out why their software was not connecting but once it did I can’t say enough how great it is. Wireless Toshiba lapper downstairs. Dell PC in the office. Smooth.
Damn, this year is rapidly coming to a close. I have a lot of days off between now and Jan 1st. I only work 6 more days this year. We’re headed back up to Jim Thorpe for a couple nights after Xmas. I like it up there. Neat little town.
Stay warm.
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