on your left

Okay, so the deal with my coach and with myself for the 2011 race season was that I find a way to ride in the basement a few times a week and that I'll go outside and get into the wind like once a week.  in the winter.  during ski season.

So... today, I found myself out on the road.  I miss the trails.  Not loving it even though I've got my awesome Santa Cruz rebuilt for road training again.  (Too?) warmly dressed on a brisk 39 degree day.

**Aside: I haven't found the perfect extremities staying warm situation for this intermediate temperature.  So I had on light wool socks and winter boots to keep my feet warm.  But the lobster gloves just induce sweat.  Anything lighter that I've tried, though, just means I'm trying to ride and curl my fingers up into my palms at the same time.  Don't try that at home.**

Sunny, but black ice and piles of snow lurked on the shoulders.  Everyone else gets to ride socially during the winter.  Building base miles in group rides on the weekend.  But, I am not everyone else and weekends aren't for riding - they're for sliding.  So I wind up riding solo in the middle of the days in the middle of the weeks.

So it's just me.  Solo on the road.  Thinking about life, ski instructor exams, my career, how much harder it is to ride outside than on the low-resistance rollers in the basement.  How much easier at the same time.  No podcast or audio book or bad rap music necessary.

I hear "on your left" and literally almost jump two feet off my bike.  Okay, not actually, but I definitely jumped.  The guy flying up the hill behind me was going so fast that he had to call it before I heard his bike.  That's what happens when you expect to be the only one on the road.