Wednesday, December 13, 2006

And a Time....


We've said it over and over this fall:

Man, this is it. What a day!

I've got so much to do, but this is the last nice day of the season.

If we don't ride, we'll miss out on the last one

Gotta get out -- this'll be the last nice day of the year.

Well, the last day has been here and gone several times. It comes. It goes. It comes back again. It leaves. Temps high...low...high, low, highlowhighlowhighlow. Now, it's 45 drizzly degrees and it's mid-December.

Don't get me wrong. I had a wonderful Saturday of mountain biking. I bicycled my Sunday errands I rode to the mall? and it was like really cool?

And after I was finished, I hung everybody back up on their garage hooks, turned the padlock key, headed indoors and commenced to waitin'

waiTING

because I should be seeing white when I look out the window. The routine is that the warm-ups last for a day or two, then we get blasted with low temps and eventually snow. It's SUPPOSED to happen that way. By now, I should be shoveling the stuff out of the driveway at seven in the morning because of the overnight snowfall. I should be wiping the crud off the windshield because of the road slop and spatter. I should be able to ride to the grocery store without need of my headlight because in winter the brightness emanates from the ground.

Because all of that means it's ski season.

I love cycling...love the bike, love the freedom, love the opportunities it offers me. But to everything um, turnturnturn, there is a season turnturnturn.... Spring, summer, fall, and winter. In the first three ya ride. In the last one the bicycle gets a rest and ya ski. It's just what you do. So what's this thing we're in right now? Post-Autumn? Pre-winter? There's not a season called GrayBarrenDrabMiserableRainyExistence yet that's what has arrived.

- TOB yeah, and ho, ho, ho too

17 comments:

WheelDancer said...

I hear ya on this one!

At least the downhill areas are making snow so why not ski in the morning and bike in the afternoon and call the season Auter or Falter or maybe just ConfusedSoDoingWhatEverWorksWhileICan?

~ lauren said...

don't you people ride in the snow over there? snow racing or something like that?

The Old Bag said...

wheel -- skiing in the morning would be great, but my type of skiing depends on the real stuff.

lauren -- you people over there...love it. Yes, we ride in the snow, but for me cycling becomes grocery-getting and my main exercise is cross-country skiing. I live for variety.

Snakebite said...

You rode your bike to the mall? Which mall? Thee Mall (that big one)??? I'm trying to visualize a safe route to that one and can't.

The Old Bag said...

No, no, no (although there are some backroads that get pretty close). I've got two great little strip malls near home: Knollwood and Miracle Mile; as well as Excelsior and Grand...a revitalized area of St. Louis Park.

PAB(a.k.a.CID) said...

i almost got to skinny ski today--but apparently it rained way high last night so they didn't take the cats out today. skating in ungroomed mush ain't my thing....

so, another fantastic road ride, it was...

do you ski at a groomed trail system or are you a do-it-yourselfer?

Jeff Moser said...

It's been pleasant riding here in Western Nevada. Threats of rain, but they've turned out to be empty threats. It gets hot on the climbs, but chilly on the descents back to work. Temps in the 40's...

shawnkielty said...

That's really too bad girl, having all that nice weather to ride in. It's been sort of wet an' sloppy over here.

The Old Bag said...

pab -- I'm definitely a groomed trail skier...but it gets tougher every year, it seems, to find decent snow locally. When we do, though, city trails are extensive and well-managed!

Jeff -- glad to hear! With our ups and downs we've had, it's been tough to keep a routine.

Shawn -- and I wish you'd keep it! Our wet, sloppy, and highs in the 40s means AM roads are nasty due to overnight freezing. That daytime rain is supposed to be snow!

X Bunny said...

blame it on el nino

although i have no idea how it is supposed to affect you people over there

The Old Bag said...

there it is again

~ lauren said...

you people.

we people over here are in "GrayBarrenDrabMiserableRainyExistence"

Anonymous said...

Sounds to me like you're having British weather!!

The Old Bag said...

wow...West-Coastian AND British

is there an accent that goes with that?

shawnkielty said...

Supposed to get "cold" here, down to 40. I think maybe you have it too easy over there. You're supposed to be suffering, cold, and miserable right now.

We over here are supposed to break out the wine coolers and fire up the BBQ's and it'sABitRoughGettingAGoodFireGoingUnderThisUmbrella.

Anonymous said...

46 and sunny in London on Sunday!! Nice to know the weather is better here than in California!

The Old Bag said...

Shawn -- cold, but not necessarily miserable. We've been in the mid-40s for over a week now. Sounds nicer than in your neck-o-the woods.

Judy -- wow, 46 and sun! We had a day like that on Th., today was 45, tomorow 38...I'm getting used to this.