Officially, spring arrived today at 4:24 p.m. CDT. I was literally on my bike at that moment, but I didn’t notice any change. Today was a statistically average March 20 in West Bend: chilly, breezy, overcast. The romantic ideal of springtime is many weeks away. It’s best not to get too excited. Fresh in my mind is the -6° wind chill that West Bend felt before sunrise on Saturday morning. I rode outside today and it was good, but we’re not going to have an unbroken path to summer. Tomorrow looks like a nearly identical day, and that will pull me outside again. Wednesday may be even warmer and I’ll look for another chance to ride if we don’t have an all-day rain. I haven’t ridden outside on consecutive days since October 29 through November 3, so I’m eager to see what I can accomplish this week. I had a horrible spring last year and it won’t be hard to beat. There’s a real opportunity for me to finish March with more miles, year-to-date, than I had last year before May 1. And on top of that goal, I have a couple of Garmin Connect badges to pursue. Every little bit of motivation helps. That’s especially true when experience tells me that there’s at least one more blast of cold air and at least one more accumulating snowfall before spring really arrives.
The Absa Cape Epic is running this week and I am enjoying the live YouTube coverage from South Africa. My overnight work schedule gives me a chance to stay tuned to the race without losing any sleep. As our spring begins, autumn is starting in the southern hemisphere. There were plenty of jackets and hoodies at the finish line of today’s Cape Epic stage. It was 66° at the time. West Benders would have been complaining of the heat!
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