It was shaping up like a typical frigid winter training day.  It was Saturday and  don’t always participate in the noon team ride, usually selecting Sunday as the weekend day that I will bear the wrath of the family for checking out for several hours.  But today’s course was appealing as it generally worked its way back past my house after about 30 miles.  The course actually went longer, via Paragon, but I had planned to go south after Anderson and Old 37.  The dishes in the sink can wait.

Some may say that riding the same course is tedious, but I am of a different mindset.  Not that I disagree completely with my colleagues on the bike, as Bloomington offers many choices for ride selection. What I like about the same course each Sunday is that you know what’s in store and the focus is on your performance.  Also, to be fair, the Flashers is a relatively safe, well known route, often with broad shoulders that has a little bit of everything; long, steady climbs, windy expanses, long flat stretches where the chase group can see the leaders for long periods of time.  And, in the event of wet, cold and inclement weather, numerous bailout points (turn-arounds). 

January is a funny training month.  You never know what nature has in store for you.  And, after my last post, I am sure a few of you may have been eager to see where the intersection of my ethics and survival lay.  On Saturday, a few met at the Bakehouse at the usual hour.  I showed up in jeans and a team jacket, Route 37 coffee steaming in hand and, due to prior commitments, bid the riders (Gary, Kevin and Jared) a good ride.  I would ride later in the day- a jaunt around Lemon with Purvis and Field.  It was a casual ride, chatty all the way.  The wind, however, was wearisome across the small spit of land heading east between the lake and the backwater.  This was an omen for what the following day had planned for us.