Happy happy

New Year's Eve 2006

Yes, happy holidays and happy New Year. Heck, happy belated SolChrisHanZaa.

Quite a switch from my whinging and moaning last Thursday when I had to ride the bus to work (again) because our street was a skating rink (again) and I had to leave the bike parked at home (again). How is anyone supposed to get any base miles in the weather we've had the last three months? If frozen roads are the result of global warming, STOP DRIVING YOUR CAR so I can ride my bike!

Ah, but then there was the gift of New Year's Eve to lure me into forgetting recent weather transgressions. 93 blissful miles, in the sunshine, on the tandem. Who needs training camp in California or Arizona? It doesn't get much better than the views we had today of the Cascades AND Olympics, the bald eagle perched above the Sammamish Slough, the snow geese flying over the fields at Carnation Farms, the snow under the trees (and on the edge of the road) up at Snoqualmie Falls. Wintertime perfection.

And I learned a new dimension of something familiar. Being a tandem stoker is a lot about trust. I've learned to trust my captains in crits and in 60+ mph descents. But this weekend I had to trust my captain on icy roads. I am overly cautious when it comes to riding in wintery conditions, so it was tough to sit back and let someone else watch the road and decide what to do. Yeah, yeah, tandems have better traction. But ice is ice, and sliding and falling sucks. Happily, the riding was uneventful except for the beautiful scenery, some tough climbing, and great company.

In retrospect, the weather in the last three months has done a lot for periodizing my training. There were some forced rest days and weeks, and some shorter-than-I-wanted miles. But today was happy happy stoker miles. I've forgotten why I was whining last week.