Thin line

In case you hadn't noticed, it is a wee bit chilly outside.  It isn't as extreme as Roald Dahl's childhood stories of people dying in the winter, their bodies left outside because the ground was to frozen to dig, until the bodies froze solid and then the body's legs would be sharpened to a point and then the body would be hammered into the ground. No, not that cold, but damn close.

There is a thin line between passion and crazy.  Unlike Joan of Arc (who I have determined was absolutely bonkers after watching Luc Besson's The Messenger recently), I have opted to maintain my last few tenuous threads of sanity and foregone the morning bike commute until the sub-arctic weather abates.  Though my heart (and by dint of connectedness: the rest of my cardiovascular system) and my fresh holiday mid-section bulge urge me to do otherwise, I am firing up the Mercedes and driving it to school each morning.  Now granted it is a diesel, so the odds of me making it to school are only slightly better than riding a bike in this freezing heinousness we call weather.

While people from around the country will smugly retort that our current temperatures are no where near as cold as they are experiencing, they are forgetting that just because the temps are the same, doesn't mean the cold is the same.  For example: my house is heated by a heat pump.  No matter what,  it is never warm.  But walk into a house with a fireplace and the heat is a palpable, living presence.  Cold is the same way.  Go out west where the humidity is low and twenty degrees feels tolerably chilly.  But step out into twenty degrees here with that high moisture content in the air, and you feel an entity seeping into your joints and spreading through your bones.  It can take all day to warm yourself after short periods of time outside.  It is insidious.

With no break in sight, extremes of motivation are being mustered to try and get out and ride.  The trainer and rollers are calling, but they are such cheap imitations of the real thing.  I'm ready for a flight through the woods no matter the weather!

There is going to be a trail day this Sunday at the Wilson's Ridge trail in Wilson's Creek.  I'll let you know more details as I get them.  Also, the Caldwell County Pathways organization is looking for members and anyone interested in being a Board Member.  Contact Tony Deal if you are interested.  Lastly, throw some support IMBA's way this year. It is time we take the bull by the horns and make our home the way we hope it could be: a bike friendly, outdoor recreation destination! Give time (and money if you can) to help make these things a reality.