Personal Missives
Two personal missives failed - Boy Scout's motto "Be Prepared" and the foundational belief of the Positive Posse.
1. Jamie, Kirk, and I took advantage of a rare break in the cloudy/stormy weather Sunday and biked a 43 mile loop in the Brookshire / Sealy area west of Houston. As we were preparing for departure the sun was out and the air warm, so I ignored the reported high 50's temp and took off in shorts and a tshirt. 5 miles in, the clouds rolled thru, and the air cooled significantly. From mile 18 to mile 33, I was COLD. I'm talking tuck-the-shirt-in-my-shorts-lookin-like-a-dork-and-not-caring, nipples-pushing-their-hardness-limits-and-extending-enough-to-make-a-woman-blush, all-exposed-skin-flushed-pink, I-cannot-consume-enough-fuel-to-keep-me-going, cold. So cold, I even drank an orange Fanta. Yup, that kind of cold. Bad Erik for not being prepared.
2. Worse, the cold started messing with me. I was an unhappy fool for over 15 miles, complaining about practically everything I could till it peaked with this conversation:
Erik: "Ugh, I hate long straight roads that seem to go on forever."
Kirk: "That's not a very positive thing to say."
Thats it. I realized I was being a Negative Nancy (that's a fancy way of saying I was being a dumb b1tch). So, I switched from listening to audiobook "A People's History of the United States" (a serious downer, probably didn't help my mood) to some jammin' tunes, paused so all three of us riders could group up, and laughed and joked idiocies (ex: DJ Dopple-icious. HA!) the last 10 miles to our car. A simple mental shift, a decision to be positive, allowed me to completely ignore how miserably cold I was and enjoy the rest of the ride.
So, one missive addressed (Thank you, Kirk!), one missive remembered. Bring proper clothing for the next ride! We did follow the ride with a sushi feast, so all's well that end's well, right? mmmm, hello hot sake.
The ride:
1. Jamie, Kirk, and I took advantage of a rare break in the cloudy/stormy weather Sunday and biked a 43 mile loop in the Brookshire / Sealy area west of Houston. As we were preparing for departure the sun was out and the air warm, so I ignored the reported high 50's temp and took off in shorts and a tshirt. 5 miles in, the clouds rolled thru, and the air cooled significantly. From mile 18 to mile 33, I was COLD. I'm talking tuck-the-shirt-in-my-shorts-lookin-like-a-dork-and-not-caring, nipples-pushing-their-hardness-limits-and-extending-enough-to-make-a-woman-blush, all-exposed-skin-flushed-pink, I-cannot-consume-enough-fuel-to-keep-me-going, cold. So cold, I even drank an orange Fanta. Yup, that kind of cold. Bad Erik for not being prepared.
2. Worse, the cold started messing with me. I was an unhappy fool for over 15 miles, complaining about practically everything I could till it peaked with this conversation:
Erik: "Ugh, I hate long straight roads that seem to go on forever."
Kirk: "That's not a very positive thing to say."
Thats it. I realized I was being a Negative Nancy (that's a fancy way of saying I was being a dumb b1tch). So, I switched from listening to audiobook "A People's History of the United States" (a serious downer, probably didn't help my mood) to some jammin' tunes, paused so all three of us riders could group up, and laughed and joked idiocies (ex: DJ Dopple-icious. HA!) the last 10 miles to our car. A simple mental shift, a decision to be positive, allowed me to completely ignore how miserably cold I was and enjoy the rest of the ride.
So, one missive addressed (Thank you, Kirk!), one missive remembered. Bring proper clothing for the next ride! We did follow the ride with a sushi feast, so all's well that end's well, right? mmmm, hello hot sake.
The ride: