it’s been one of those classic VT spring weekends, only it’s still really early for this this sort of nonsense. Friday and Saturday capped off a week of gorgeous days. While I had to spend my Friday afternoon entertaining 6 year old boys, Saturday was payback with basically unlimited time to ride.

Lovers Lane Bridge

Lovers Lane Bridge

As I rolled out from the house at 9, the sun was strong and the temps were headed up. It wasn’t long before I stripped out of my tights and layers and stashed them on the side of the road for the return. Felt great to have the sun on my arms and legs, even with snowbanks on either side. The ride took me a little longer than I had anticipated, and my two hour ride ended up three hours – but in a good way. However, by the time I was pointed back to the shop the clouds had rolled in, the wind picked up and the temps were dropping fast. I had definitely had the best of Saturday at that point.

On Sunday my window to ride was in the morning. Though a few people had inquired about joining me, after looking out the window I knew that it was going to be a solo affair. In sharp contrast to the day earlier, I donned all of my winter gear: boots, tights, layers, big jacket, snowboard gloves, helmet liner, etc.

I am pretty dedicated to ‘riding to my rides’ and leaving from the house as much as I can, however in a truly smart decision I drove to the shop to start this ride. As I headed out down River Road the snow picked up. Heavy and wet, the snow was sticking to the ground and to me.

Dugway Road

Dugway Road

By the time I got up to Huntington, the heavy wet snow had turned to a cold rain. Wes White road was a muddy pit, at one point I was racing a pickup up truck and winning because the mud in the road was really bad but not so bad on the far shoulder. Making the turn for the last leg back to Waterbury I was done, but it’s that realization that there’s no shortcut, no bailout point, no way to get back faster that just makes you pedal that much harder in hopes to end the suffering sooner than later.

By the time I made it back to the car, the sky was clearing and the precipitation had ended. My feet were ice chunks and everything was soaking wet. I’d definitely gotten the worst part of Sunday.