Date: Dec. 30Mileage: 21.4
December mileage: 338.5
Temperature upon departure: 30
Today's ride was sponsored by Adam, and by Richard. Thank you! I left after work at 4:45 p.m. and did most of my ride in the dark - my longest night ride to date. It was a little surreal. When night strips the landscape bare, the shadows start to creep into your thoughts. I've had similar experiences hiking at night in the winter ... when there's only the dark and the silence, all of your senses are thrown into doubt. You wonder if you're colder than you feel. You wonder if the crunch of your tires on snow is as loud as it sounds. You know exactly where you are, and yet you can't help but wonder if you're lost - turned down another trail, slipped into another dimension, maybe. It was really interesting - never scary or dangerous. Just interesting. Night riding is definitely something I'm going to work harder to acclimate myself to before the Susitna 100. Plus, now I know exactly what I want in a bike headlight - which almost the perfect opposite of the one I have now.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to get up early (i.e. before the 10 a.m. sunrise) and pound out some miles before the New Year. Why? I don't know. Something to do, I guess. I probably should mix it up a bit and go cross country skiing - but the snow is so intermittently icy and slushy right now that if I was going to kill myself doing any winter sport, XC skiing in that stuff would probably be the way I'd go. Plus, I'm in training. It sounds so weird to say it.
I'm feeling bummed because Geoff just returned from New York but won't be able to come down from Anchorage until Sunday. Which means my New Year's Eve will probably go something like this: take as long a bicycle ride as I can stomach; down a couple of bowls of cold cereal for dinner; eat a cupcake shaped like a volcano at the Edible Arts Extravaganza; get my groove on with the hillbilly Anchorage band that I interviewed earlier this week; and go with Jen to the Masquerade Ball, where we will wear props left over from a middle school production of "Romeo and Juliet" and scream "Happy New Year" to no one in particular - at least no one we know.
Another holiday without the people I love. Oh well. At least there won't be another one for a while.
Hey I wish I could eat a cup cake shaped like a volcano! :)
ReplyDeleteKeep your head up girl. You can also post a Happy New Year to us faithful readers.
ReplyDeleteI skipped my ride a few days ago due to sleet and rain, but made up for it the next night. Thursday I rode to pick up my friend (12 miles), left his house and did our loop (17 miles), then I changed into dry clothes and rode home (12 miles). Total 41 miles. Thanks for the inspiration.
- Joe from IL
God, you take such beautiful pictures. Very talented.
ReplyDeleteIf I hit the half pipe, I would die, the snowboard and I like open powder fields and little if no air. I put a link to your blog on mine, hope you don't mind. Happy new Year
ReplyDelete"Tomorrow I'm going to try to get up early (i.e. before the 10 a.m. sunrise) and pound out some miles before the New Year. Why? I don't know. Something to do, I guess"
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at you exercise fanatics. I have so many things competing for my time, and to think of nothing to do but exercise! Don't you have any video games, movies, telephone conversations, shopping, work, or other things to do? wow.