Hang in there Penny. A couple months to go.

Hey people. Last week I made my third attempt at winter mountain biking, my most successful to date, but still not a total win.

See, when I started riding the trail in summer, it was fun zoominess, interspersed with hard to impossible climbs, and sprinkled liberally with sheer terror. But there was enough fun zoominess to keep me going until lots of the terror became zoomy fun, and the hard climbs got easier, and the impossible ones hard. Practicing lets me get faster, which makes me have to use up more brain, which is a super nice little slice of escapism in my day.

Adrenaline + woods + challenge + escapism = addiction that won't wreck my life.

Winter riding is way different (for me). It's way slower. At my skill level, with my less-than-ideal equipment, it's mostly grannyish pedalling, broken up by some tentative one foot stuck out coasting down hills, lots of dabbing, (some of that on the fly-- that's as zoomy as I've gotten), Driving Miss Daisy clown bike climbs, and lots of walking the bike uphill (or the unattractive waddling) (it returned). I kept reminding myself I'd made it a goal to ride the trail this winter. I couldn't give-up. I'd be way too pissed at myself.

"Brick walls are just there to keep people who want it less badly out."

Mostly it just made me miss summer riding though. I imagine it's like dating the sister of someone you're in love with, because it's the best you can do. Here are the homemade gaiters I came up with to keep my pants out of the chain. They're sale-rack Target socks with the toes and heels cut off. (Sometimes the more I shop, the cheaper I get.) $66 for gaiters? I think not. These were less than $3.

I miss riding so much I've been fantasizing about all the fun I'm going to have this summer. Last week I was even looking at this 100 mile race held on gravel roads and going, "Yeah, I could do that. It'd be fun!" -- forgetting how sick I get of having my bones shaken apart after riding only a few miles of gravel.

Yesterday I asked Dan, "Will you take some pics of me hugging Penny?" Him- "Sure, but why?" Me-- "Because we miss each other."

I've been getting outside and doing other stuff all winter. Friday I went XC skiing with T-Pam, as usual. We have a really nice groomed 10k loop right by my house. Before I went with her, I went with another pal and her dog. The dog would pull her down all the hills and beyond, leaving me in her dust, and I'd have to really pour it on to catch up. By the time I was almost through my second loop with Pam, who is faster than me, I was bonking hard (running out of fuel).

At one point she started talking about Buca Di Beppo and I literally started drooling. I go, "You are so lucky you don't smell like a giant piece of garlic bread right now, and that there's no way I could catch you and gnaw anything off."

100 miles? On gravel?? What the hell had I been thinking? I couldn't even ski 20k without bottoming out.

I went running yesterday for the first time in like, two months. Oh my god am I out of shape! (running shape) You'd think skiing 10k almost every day and hiking around in the snow would have been keeping my fitness level up, but running is a whole other thing for me. It's definitely the hardest thing I do.

(Here's me comforting Penny. Our separation has been really tough on her. Poor Penny.)

Now we're getting into the time of year where the snow will start to melt. While everyone else will be all "spring-- yay!" I'll be like-- no snow, no skiing-- "Boo!" and mud all over, no riding-- "Boo!" I won't be able to do anything BUT run, which will probably be really good for me, because if I'm going to get faster at riding this summer, I should really lose like, 10 more lbs.