Wednesday, August 25, 2010

148 Days and Counting

This blog's been silent lately. Through my ruminating, I have come to realize that I'm slightly depressed because I hate this time of the year. Yes, cooler weather can be nice, but...

I live for the long days of summer. To have sunlight from 5:30 AM to 9:30 PM more than makes up for the inconvenience of the heat and humidity.

I've always felt this way. When I was a kid, I lived at our local swimming pool from morning swimming practice at 8:00 AM till when it closed each night at 9:00 PM. I wasn't just a fixture at that pool. I was the gate keeper: first in and last out each day. The sparkle of the sun off the concrete deck, chlorine bleached hair, a sun-burned nose, and the artificially-laced, coconut-smelling Hawaiian Tropic suntan oil was heaven on earth.

So when August rolled around and friends spoke of the coming school year, I'd slip away to do another cannonball off the high dive. It's not so much that I disliked school, but more that I hated the thought of summer ending.

Sigh.

This summer's been a good one. Lots of great training rides peppered with racing, and five fantastic days in the mountains with my brothers have produced many lasting memories. Even the injury to my shoulder, which I still feel today, comes secondary to the events of the past 90 days.

So now that August is nearly over, I find myself feeling gloomy about the transition to Autumn once more. Bear with me a moment as I lament and say my piece.

So long, white pants! Adios, 16 hours of daily sunlight! (And soon) Good bye Wednesday Night Worlds!

And yet, there is hope: only 148 days until the 2011 Vernal Equinox. That doesn't sound too long to wait.

9 comments:

  1. Don't fret good buddy, there's still 14 race weekends left, cross and mtb. The way I look at it, after cross season there's only two months until spring riding, and 60 days is way shorter than 148!

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  2. If you put some layers of fat under your pelt you could ride when it's 30 degrees out like I do. (In my AMFIB Bib/tights. I also got some leg warmers and will be looking to add arm warmers to my fall/winter kit.)

    Embrace the giddiness of the last day of the pool being open with the mystical change of season when something new is starting as something old finishes.

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  3. Are you suggesting that you're going to be "out of your element"? ....


    Ok, I'll stop now.

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  4. Yes, 60 days is a better way to look at it than 148. Anyway, I feel better about the whole Fall thing after saying my goodbyes to summer on this blog. Still, I'm going to enjoy the last few WNW road rides before coming over to CX practice. In the meantime, why not come out to Team Nebraska Triathlon's Tuesday night track intervals? Warm-up starts at 5:45, 5K of speed work starting at 6:00 PM. Plan on finishing about 7:15. We're currently meeting at Westside High School's track while UNO Caniglia Field's track is closed while they finish construction of the scoreboard. Details of the when and wheres are on the Team Nebraka Triathlon's facebook page. Open to all.

    Murphini: I ride at 30°F (and much lower) without the extra poundage. It's all about wearing the proper gear. To that point, buy a pair of arm warmers for Fall and Spring rides. You'll get a lot of use out of that purchase.

    Hey, by the way, velogear.com has your Pearl Izumi Woolie (Walnut) on sale right now for about $60. I might pick one up.

    Brendan. What did I tell you, Donnie?

    Coach: I'd think you'd be happy to say goodbye to summer after it threw some of its best heat & humidity at you while you encountered a crash and 3 flats on the way to finishing 6th overall in the recent Gravel Worlds 150 mi race. Yeah, I think you'd like a little cooler weather for awhile.

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  5. Just thought I'd give you a little update about what summer looks like at your childhood pool (which I live three doors down from) these days.

    While I was loading up our van for a trip to our own (public) pool last Sunday, Julie came out and said, "That guy over there is in his underwear." I look over and, sure enough, right there across the street is a 70-something guy standing at the trunk of his vanity-plate Lexus (RMC-1) in his underwear.

    At least, that's what he was in when I first looked at him. Then he began taking off his underwear. I started yelling "hey Hey Hey HEY!!" at which he slowly turned, grinned at me, said "Sorry!" and then started to put his bathing suit on. Whereupon he shut the trunk and blithely walked across the street and into Greenbriar's side gate.

    Makes me interpret murphini's last paragraph a little differently. Also makes me glad fall is here.

    Sorry to blog on your blog.

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  6. I'm with you Brady! This is the first ending of Summer that I've lamented. I noticed, just this week, that my regular riding time of 5:45 a.m. is still dark out.

    I've put together my wish list of Autumn/Winter gear so that I con't have to slow down.

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