Reality Bikes

Obviously, I like a cheap pun, even if it serves little or no purpose...

Seriously though, my coach has a few rules, of which the first is 'no whining'. A subset of this rule is 'no whining about the weather.' There's nothing you can do about the weather. You are where you are, and for us especially here in south-central CT, there are far worse places to be- 24 people have been killed by bad weather this year.

Still, after those 70 degree days, it feels a little like having the rug pulled out from under you when the temps dip into the fifties and it rains, or even drizzles. Now that it's May, we finally seem to be getting April's weather, which has happened enough times in the last few years to get the meteorologists reminding us that weather patterns are just that- patterns, long term trends that have no specific relevance to short-term events.

Of course, it's when you hop on the bike that a 50F, wet, and windy day takes on an unpleasant turn. So that's when it is good to remember the rules. I've been out on the bike when it was 38 and pouring rain, and just think about some of the miserable days on the bike they have during the Giro. Not only is it not really that bad- it could be lots worse.

There was that time we got 18 inches of snow in Rochester- in May. Now that is bad cycling weather, let me tell you...

All of this said, I'm supposed to spin easy today to get ready to race, so I may find myself inside on the trainer in any event...