Winter Blues

I have once again been bummed out by the next four-day forecast! More rain and icy garbage to deal with. This is really starting to become a soggy nasty winter for us here in South Carolina.
The winter started out really cold but dry, and has now turned into cold and wet wet wet and more wet!
I've resorted to breaking out my indoor trainer alot this year. As the pseudo miles roll by in the living room I watch out the big front window as the wind and rain howl by as if to say, "not today fat-boy"! I have become creative in my trainer workouts by changing up the DVDs alot. The new George Hincapie DVD documentary is great for entertainment, motivation and time on the bike. It is 81 minutes of interviews with George as he rides along through the foothills of Greenville. His documentary makes for a pretty good workout if you can stand to be on a trainer for that long. I then will add some difficulty into the mix by hitting the Time Trial DVD by Carmichael Training Systems. That one is rough if you do it like the DVD tells you to. You must have a heart rate monitor and cadence sensor to correctly complete the training and you should know your physical limits also.
There have been breaks in the nasty weather that have allowed for road cycling also but they have been few and far between. I have also done some running which to me is more like self torture, but works well for burning off calories and strengthening different leg-muscles. I usually pay for it the next day, I hate to run! My Wife is set to begin a routine to train for some of the upcoming spring 5k races and it will give me another reason to get out and run. I enjoy running with her and sometimes my Dad slows down enough to let me run with him too so maybe the winter will turn out OK anyway.
We just returned from Nashville, TN. yesterday and it rained all day long on us as we drove through the Smoky MT. National Park. the interstate through Asheville NC. I-40 is still closed due to the Rock-Slides so we ended up having to go through the mountains to get to the other side so we could continue on and it was a mess! I made the best of it by imagining that I was on my bike in the spring time spinning out routes through the beautiful hills that we were now navigating in the monsoon season. There were winds so high near the top of Newfound Gap that I could actually feel the steering of our SUV becoming light as we rounded several of the corners up there. Kinda scary I thought.
Well, we must press on toward that great thing called spring, so if you are one of the cabin-fever ridden cyclist out there, hang on, spring is not far off.(yeah right!)
I did take a chance today and put my ride through a thourough cleaning. I hadn't realized how dirty she was. I even disassembled my rear derrailuer and cleaned the individual pulleys, then cleaned the chain really well. after that was all done I washed and waxed the whole frame along with cleaning the wheels and tires too! the thing looks brand new aside from a few wear-marks here and there. So I encourage you also while the weather is foul to go ahead and shine up the ride and fix anything you need to in preparation for the next time the weather breaks. Later all!