Getting Only A Glimpse When I Want To Stare

The first 80° day of 2019—the first 80° day since October 9—didn’t come soon enough for me. For more than 6 months I needed not just a day like yesterday, but an unbroken series of them. Warm weather inspires and motivates me and I probably will always wonder what kind of athlete I could be if I had more days like Saturday and fewer like the typically cold, dark days that make Wisconsin only the latest stop on my journey through life, not the last. Days like, say, tomorrow and Tuesday:

There’s another couple of rest days I don’t need.

But I did good work on the road yesterday and I was doing good work on the Eisenbahn State Trail this afternoon until a front tire puncture stopped me halfway between Kewaskum and Campbellsport. I swapped in the only spare tube I had and then headed back to West Bend. I finished the week with 8.5 hours in the saddle and a total of 141 miles. That’s my best week since April 22-28, which doesn’t speak too well for our May weather. With only 13 more weeks until the cyclocross season opens, I continue to struggle with consistency in my training and it’s all weather-related. I haven’t had a 5-day week on the bike since December 10-16, and at this time of year I should be shooting for 6 days on, 1 day off.