Figures.

I decided to make yesterday my recovery day and do my hill intervals today. Yesterday it was gorgeous, sunny, and not at all windy outside. Today? I battled the winds and got caught in freezing rain. I got through most of my workout, but by the time I got back to work it took me a good hour to warm up again. I even have my leg warmers on under my jeans. Rad. I was seriously grumpy before my ride, tho, and even with the rain and cold and the GOD DAMN WIND I feel a little more chipper now.

I was having some serious trouble staying motivated last week. I got out on my long ride on Saturday and realized why: it had been 2 WEEKS since I'd been outside on my bike! I think that 2 weeks on the trainer is enough to kill anyone's motivation. So the motivation is much better this week, now that it's no longer snowing and I can ride OUTSIDE. I'm sure that anyone who's spent anytime at all on the trainer understands what I mean. It's not FUN. Sometimes I get so caught up in intervals and "training" and getting faster (snort, yeah, right) that I lose track of how much fun it is to ride my road bike (mountain bike is a given - always fun). I realized that I can't remember a time when my bike wasn't my favorite place to be. And I've only been riding for 5 years now. I've always considered myself to be pretty socially awkward and uncomfortable, and I'm always amazed at how comfortable I feel on my bike. Like something clicks and I'm suddenly the person I want to be, doing what I love to do. And I no longer feel awkward, or uncomfortable - I feel confident. And the longer I ride, days to weeks to years, the more that feeling spills over into all other aspects of my life. I truly think that riding my bike has made me a better person, a happier person.

And! I've been off the sweet stuff for almost two weeks now! The extent of my sugar consumption has been strawberry jam on my multi-grain toast* and a little brown sugar in my oatmeal. Oh yeah, and Cytomax in my waterbottle for the long rides. And I'm feeling really good about it! Getting a little leaner, too, I think.

And that's all good because I have a race in 2 weeks! Patterson Early Bird RR - I did this one 3 years ago (god, has it really been that long?) and did really well - 5th overall, 3rd Cat4. So I'm excited about it. I've been doing TONS of climbing the last 6 weeks or so, nothing too hard, just getting up those hills. So I'm looking forward to seeing how I handle the climb at Patterson. And next weekend is the Velo Bella camp! I'm stoked on the amazing ladies to ride with, the promise of some wine tasting, long rides in warm weather, and new roads! I love new roads (new to me, I mean, the road itself can be as old as it wants). And when I get home from SLO Cody will be here, so that's just the icing on the cake (or, in my sugar-free world of late, the grated Romano on the ravioli, or something like that. Haha, I just called Cody grated Romano. Dork.)

And. . . . I'm off!

*Cody's brother and sister-in-law sent me a PINK TOASTER for Xmas! I've been wanting a toaster for sooo long! In the past when I've needed to toast stuff I've stuck it in the oven on "broil" with the rack up near the top. It works . . . kinda okay. But I figure it uses waaaay less energy to power a little (pink) toaster than a whole oven. And it's a Cuisinart, so it's quality. And Pink.