final fall glimpses

Mother Nature keeps trying to "WOW" me with the details. Obviously it is working, as I keep trying to capture her works and I am amazed at how dull it looks compared to the real-thing! It was like 70+ degrees here yesterday. Yes, the wind was blowin' a million miles an hour, but it was far from cold. I managed a short ride in later in the day. It was still too windy (in town it wasn't and so I was tricked into thinking it was less windy than it was, but as soon as I got out on the county roads, the gusts would blow me over!) Of course, when the sun went down, the wind did too.

Anyway---we're forecasted for 15 degrees cooler than yesterday, but the wind is less too. Everyone keeps telling me, "All right Joni, this is it---enjoy it while you can!" Funny thing is, I think I do enjoy it. I appreciate every nice day. Always have (though I may have been a bit too carefree about it during my California days...when it's always nice, it's hard to know what anything else feels like!)

The Tour of California was recently announced (Look out Tour de France, as nothing in the world can compare to the diverse landscapes and people of California!). The amazing thing, and the somewhat sad thing to me about the timing of things, is that for the last 5 years or so, there have been many small D3 teams based in California who have just this year gone by the wayside. It would have been a wonderful opportunity for the sponsors of the sport at the D3 level to get some wonderful recognition for their commitment to the sport. Hopefully some new ones will take over. The location is too perfect for cycling in general.

I am hoping to make it out to see some of the stages since February is my birthday, and it is also sounding like a perfect time of year to be in California as opposed to Minnesota. We'll see.

Sydney and I have lots of jobs to do today to get ready for a racing weekend in St. Cloud---We're staying with friends on Saturday night and then racing on Sunday! Woo hoo! Have a wonderful day!