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I wasn't sure what to title this post. At first I was thinking of "building character" due to my commute to work on Wednesday morning. While I was battling a STIFF, STIFF wind, with rain and sleet blowing in my face, I thought to myself, more as sarcastic consolation than anthing else, "this is the type of shit that builds character, yeah!!!!" Exposed skin was stinging because of the cold precipitation pelting down, my eyes got watery as the wind whipped past, and I even resorted to riding on the sidewalk because I didn't feel safe on the road. That's why I do this, right???? It toughens me up, just like other "character building" things I've done...24 hour solo races, biking in the cold until I can't feel my extremeties, the list goes on. Some people would call that just plain crazy, but if I call it character building, then I *must* be able to justify it.
I also thought of titling this post "overcoming obstacles", since my back and knee are feeling better, AND I had to battle those aforementioned weather conditions. But, "overcoming obstacles" sounds kind of cheesy, and, well, so does "building character", come to think of it. THEN, I was thinking of titling this post "Is spring ever gonna get here?!?!?!?!?", again because of yesterday's weather, and because of this morning's weather. I got up for a quick ride in the park before work, and no joke, AS SOON as I entered the park from Tache boulevard, I started getting pelted with snow. It was snowing during the whole ride, but I thought to myself that I'd rather have it snow on me instead of rain. Only problem is when the roads become covered in snow, slick tires don't really offer much traction. Even though I was picturing those iconic images of Andy Hampsten in the Giro, I think that biking on my own on snow covered roads would have qualified more as stupidity than character building.

Pink Lake, about three quarters frozen...still.

 Is it really almost May????

The road toward Black's, just past the Waterfall trail parking lot.

Tomorrow's forecast looks promising, sunny, and warmer temps than we've been used to for the last while. Not character building riding conditions, but that's fine with me.