Brown Season: March Winds Blow

I'm surprised I actually caught these clouds in the image. They were moving so fast!

March. Everyone knows that means "wind". In fact, I am betting that somewhere back in time this period of the year was once known by a name meaning "windy". Probably preceded by some appropriate malediction of the day.

If you live and ride in the Mid-West on the plains, you either embrace the wind, or you go insane because of it, or you don't ride outside. Those are your choices. I choose to embrace it. I'd rather not ride inside, ever, for any reason. I'm probably already insane anyway, so that choice is out the window.

I have a friend who told me once that he taunts the wind. "Is that all ya got? I'm still moving! Bring it on!", he says as he boldly mashes his pedals against the rushing air coming over the plains. I felt inspired by his attitude, so that's what I do now. I even say things out loud if I am alone riding. "C'mon now!, I'll say, "I'm okay!", I'll tell myself. It makes it easier than if you were to gripe about it. Being miserable doesn't help things, and it is a bicycle ride. I mean.....c'mon now! 

I am really just glad that the weather and the roads are cooperating to allow any kind of decent riding at this time of the year. Last year there was no way this was happening. This year we'll have an early Spring, and maybe.....just maybe, it will be a good long Spring, instead of a few days and then leaping straight into Summer's humidity.

The pink MCD. With The Redshift ShockStop stem and seat post, I may have to call this my "Pink Cadillac"!

The bike I rode is the familiar pink MCD from Black Mountain Cycles. I have the Redshift Sports ShockStop stem and seat post on it. Talk about smooth! It gives me a Cadillac ride. The poofy WTB Raddler 44mm tires don't hurt either. In fact, maybe it is almost too much squish. With the saddle, stem, and tires giving way, it seems I have lost a bit of road feedback which maybe is leading to handling issues. Or......it could be the 20+ mph cross winds. Reserving judgment! Going South or North wasn't too bad, but that West-Northwest cross wind was knocking my bike around a bit. Going West?  Ugggh!

The roads South of town are in excellent shape.

 I decided that beating myself up against this gale was not in my best interests, so I chose a route that featured mostly cross wind and a little bit of head and tail wind. It worked perfectly. The roads actually are the best they've been in a long, long time. I saw no soft spots, but perhaps the frost hasn't been drawn out just yet.

As you can see from these images, the snow is almost kaput. Which is fantastic, as the ground now will absorb more of the Sun's energy, kick starting this season into high gear sooner than it got going last year. Last year we had big snow drifts alongside the roads until mid-March and longer. The roads were a big mess, which took all year to recover from, so this respite from a ravaging Winter is good.It also means more riding is being done earlier than last year, so I am hopeful that I'll be in much netter shape for the Renegade Gent's Race at the beginning of April.