stormy days and bbb porn

continuing the non-winter st. louis winter, today's 70 degree temps prompted me to bust outside and get some hard pedaling done. i rushed home from work, wind whipping the car from side to side as i drove.

"if i can just start pedaling the bike, i won't care if it rains on me!" i kept repeating this mantra the whole way home. i dove into the cycling drawer, pulled out my shorts, knee warmers, jersey and socks...."if i can just start pedaling..." i kept looking outside. still filtered sunlight! whoo hoo! a quick check of the temperature gauge, 69 degrees still! yeah!

wisely, i chose the big beautiful bike, the "ugly porn" bike i own. it's a 6 year old homegrown that i have built up and torn down and built up again 20 different times. it becomes whatever i need it to be; makeshift cyclocross bike, fill-in lightweight hardtail, street bike, commuter bike. now it's the street bike. why a street bike? you ever get to ride for just a little while, and really don't have time to GO anywhere? perfect for the street bike. kinda like a bike messenger's bike...it can go anywhere, anytime. it's ugly and worthless, but still a good bike. with the clouds and forcast being what it was, this was the bike o' the day.

i busted out of the driveway, not heeding my own wise words ("a warmup is a good thing, always!") and rolled the throttle back. damn, it's warm! damn it's windy! i big-ringed it down the familiar route away from the house, in sort of a panicky way. i knew it was coming, and i wanted to be well under way when the weather got bad.

i felt sprinkles 10 minutes into the ride, but, no matter. i was RIDING! i told myself that a few more minutes, and i would be ready for some serious intervals. a few more rain drops, and i was ready for some serious intervals NOW! 20 seconds all-out, 44-11. i was able to get in 5 of them, then it started raining HARD! Whoa, tornado sirens! Weird, cold wind gusts blew across the warm road, making completely different climates, sometimes withing a few feet. What the hell??

i was already blown when i turned towards home...i guess my adrenaline from the rushing around made me oblivious to how hard i was going in the intervals. the wind was biblical, luckily it was a cross-wind, but that made staying out of the road really tough, especially since i couldn't see 10 feet in front of me. i could've sworn that it was hail and not rain pelting my body. another shot of adrenaline, this time from fear, enabled me to do a couple more flat-out intervals on the way home. wind-assisted, i was battling it out with a camry on hegee road...damn, i wish i could feel this good on race day!

i limped up my street, which is only a slight uphill, like i was climbing mount everest. i was soaked.

the rain stopped right about the time i hit the garage door opener. yep, pretty typical. the temp gauge reads 48 degrees. cold fronts and warm fronts certainly living up to the hype today.

gotta love st. louis weather.