I stopped riding my bike

It's cold. I don't do very well with the cold. Not that I can't handle it, I just can't motivate myself to get out of bed in the morning. I like being warm under my blanket. I dare say it's one of my favourite things in life. It has killed my riding though. At first I didn't really miss it. I had gone out a few times after completing the MS ride, but as the mornings dropped into the 30's, I felt less and less compelled to wake up and ride my bike.

My work schedule has aided the cold. They've teamed up to become my bike's axis of evil. My boss has me working anywhere from noon until midnight during the day and I never feel settled enough to figure out a steady eating pattern, let alone when I'm going to ride my bike.

I didn't miss it. I was happy just being lazy. I had put three pounds back on. I was eating like crap. I was reveling in it. I even brought my bike up stairs because it was "cluttering" our hall way.

I miss it. Thursday, I had come home from work, watched some TV, polished of a pint of ice cream. I came to bed, tired from a long day and a slight food coma. I crawled into bed, wrapped myself up in a blanket and put my head down. The second my head hit the pillow I couldn't stop thinking about riding my bike. It kept me up for three hours. I was jonesing for it.

I have off on Fridays, but the day after my longing to ride my bike, Jen and I were going to Jim Thorpe PA. We drove up there, and on the way we were talking about how good the surrounding land looked for riding. When we got off the Turn Pike my fears were confirmed. The roads were not only as good as we had though, they were better.

We got into town and got out of the car. I couldn't get over how cold it was. It was easily ten degrees cooler than when we had left. We started walking up Hill Rd. Very direct naming. It was a nice, long hill that went on further than we cared to walk. It was very cold and I couldn't help but think about how warm I would be if I were killing myself riding up this hill. I was craving it. I had talked to Jen about bringing our bikes a week earlier, but she shot down the idea a day before.

We walked back down to the town and stated up another street. Off of that street was the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. Another street, much like Hill Rd only it must have been a 20% grade for further than I could see. I wanted to see how far I could make it up on my bike before I threw up.

As we headed down the Street towards the bottom of town we came to an out door store. They carried mountain bikes so we had a look around. I saw the craziest cassette; the largest cog was the size of a pie plate. I thought it was ridiculous until I remembered about the hill I had just seen. It made total sense to me then.

I've wanted to ride my bike all day today. I can't, because it's raining something fierce. I thought about just tossing a rain jacket on and going out any way, but it's really raining. And very gusty. I knew it was going to rain, but I also know that tomorrow will be in the 60's and dry. "Awesome!" I think. "I'll ride before I go to work tomorrow!" Nope. My boss called to let me know that the morning guy called out and that he needs me to work. I wont be home until seven and it's dark at that point. Damn it.

Now I'm desperate enough to use my trainer. It's not right riding a bike inside while watching TV or looking out your window.

I'm moving as soon as I can convince Jen.