Monday, Monday

Monday, Monday...

After an absolutely lovely Sunday, the fickle weather system opted for some rain this morning. Since it's only rained 3 times since we arrived (a month ago!), my complaints will be kept at a minimum---especially since the weather that I left behind was pretty wet and dismal. Imagine moving from California to Minnesota in April for better bicycle riding weather! (I didn't say terrain...just weather...I'm still in search of mountains, but like I said, this will be a LONG search!)

The plan for today is a ride on the trainer. I never thought this would be something I'd opt for, but some days it is just smarter to not push your limits and inner strength...keep suffering at a minimum, so to speak. I'm glad I did a somewhat longer ride yesterday when it was sunny. I got home in time to watch OLN's coverage of the Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege as well as the Sea Otter and it was cool to see Mike's teammate, Roman, do such a remarkable ride to 2nd place in the road race, placing him at 2nd in the overall GC as well. Nice job!

Yesterday's ride started out on highway 23 heading over to Green Valley before turning off to a lightly used county road towards Ghent. I passed this HUGE dead skunk, followed shortly thereafter by a dead bunny (baby rabbit), followed by a dead robin (exotic bird!) Happily that was the extent of the road kill for the day. From Ghent I headed towards Lynd, through Camden (a little treasure of a park), then out on another county road before heading home. You'd have to ride your bike at 4am in California to have so few cars to contend with. It's amazing how the lack of traffic makes for such stress-free riding too! And even when there is a car, it moves all the way into another lane before it passes you. Very considerate! There's this guy, Scott, who also rides and lived for a while in Arizona. He commented on how Mike and I always look back when we hear cars approaching and on how it is so unnecessary..."they won't even come close to you..." they'll wait until it is safe to pass...no horns...no "finger salutes", just a smile and a wave as they go safely by.

And there is nothing like coming home from a long ride to find that your Minnesota Dad invited your small hound on a trip to the cornfields to play after he sprayed your yard (another job you can check off your list!), as well as an invitation for a home-cooked dinner by your Minnesota Mom to end an already lovely sunny Sunday.

So you see, after such a day, a little bit of rain can't ruin my day today. Actually I have so much to do that NOT going for a 3 hour bike ride is probably a good thing anyway. Sometimes (always) I allocate too much time for play and NOT enough time for jobs. (But I can do both when the scmack goes down---or when it's raining and I don't feel like cleaning my bike afterwards!) Mike always jokes that, "Joni is on a permanent vacation!" So a few morning jobs might do wonders for my tarnished image...you think?

Anyway...the sun just came out and so cancel that thought...I may go ride anyway and keep up my "on vacation" image!