Ah, spring is here. This signals a rebirth of plant life, etc, but most importantly, the start of the biking season. We herald the event by watching the hibernating cyclist emerge, squinting in the unaccustomed sunlight, a little bit wobbly as their white spindly legs once more become one with the pedals. The lycra fits a bit tighter than it used to, and the hills are steeper and longer. The headwind that was once considered a zephyr is now promoted to a raging gale.
Now I know some of us are highly motivated overachievers who spend the winter cross country skiing or spinning endless virtual miles on a wind trainer, or if you like to live dangerously, rollers. Some of us have been riding the frozen tundra on mountain bikes (reminds me of the Rocky & Bullwinkle episode "Lightbulbs in permafrost, or mazdas in de cold cold ground"). But if you're like most of us, your idea of a serious winter workout is getting up to change the channel when the remote craps out. One of my personal cross-training exercises is weight training with sixteen ounce glasses of beer. So come spring, you're not exactly sporting buns of steel (buns of marshmallow would be more accurate).
Winter commuters have a significant leg up (no pun intended) this time of year, since if they've managed to get through the winter without breaking too many important body parts, they have logged quite a few road miles, and are ready to take on the big guys. At least until the big guys get a couple of hundred miles under their belt, and then they get smoked as usual.
One solution to the out of shape problem is to buy new components. If I'm about as fast as a slug, at least I can make my bike faster, we reason. This is a good time of year for component fallout, as the market gets flooded with eight speed components as everyone goes to nine speeds. I'm still blissfully ignorant in the seven speed world (I've even got a six speed setup lurking around), but a bargain's a bargain.
Those of you who were instilled from birth with a healthy dose of guilt will start thinking about nutrition again. Wearing sackcloth and lycra, you will atone for your sins by subsisting on power bars and water. You will eschew the chocolate chocolate double mocha goodies in favor of celery sticks. Penance will continue until mid season, when you've been pounding the pedals religiously for hundreds of miles, and start feeling really good again. You will reward yourself with one of those chocolate squared tidbits and start the cycle all over again.
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