Tweed-tastic

Just as my training has fallen away to make room for the off season, it seems that I'm also struggling to maintain my Sunday-Thursday blogging. I have a good excuse for missing last night's post. I was visiting friends in Washington DC, where I experienced an effective Internet black hole from Friday evening until this morning, when I got the the airport in Baltimore.

Word has it that DC does have the Internet, but I seemed to have a hard time connecting. The good news is that a dearth of web-powered interconnectivity appeared to have little or no effect on my ability to catch up with, connect with, and otherwise enjoy the company of the large number of friends I now have living in the nation's capital. This is, of course, a roundabout way of saying that while I always feel bad when I miss a post, my time usually set aside for blogging on a Sunday evening was given willingly last night to other purposes, because sometimes it's necessary to put friends and family I don't often see ahead of this blog. I'm sure you understand.

Anyway, as you've doubtless inferred by now, I spent the weekend in Washington DC, and spent two consecutive days off of my bike for the first time in a long time. How does it feel? Despite not sleeping much this weekend, I was all jittery with energy when I got off the plane in Albany (five hours late, as I missed my flight this morning). So, after driving home from the airport, dropping my bags, and saying "Hi" to Marissa, I immediately got dressed and headed out to the Battlefields.

There are many things I do well on a bike, but my greatest challenge continues to be not riding. The hardest part about the late fall and winter seasons, for me, is getting up the motivation to ride when it's cold and windy outside, and the only alternative is to sit on a trainer or rollers. So, while it can be difficult to take two days off (of course, this time, it wasn't that difficult since I was having such a good time in DC), it might be worth it, as I seem to be more psyched to break out the fleece-lined spandex when it is time to ride again.

Of course, that doesn't address other issues, such as the early sunset, but what can you do? Part of my mania to ride today was also fueled by the fact that it was in the 70s yesterday in DC, and I was walking around in short sleeves. Amanda took great pride in wearing a skirt. Everyone with a bike was out riding, teasing me. It was a little frustrating. Tantalizing, perhaps?

The only cycling-related activity in which I participated while away this weekend was a "Tweed Ride," and even that was only tangential. One of Amanda's room mates participated in this slightly odd theme ride, which seems to have been lifted straight from Portland. The ride is exactly what it sounds, a bunch of people wearing tweed clothes and other '20s-era attire, riding around the city.

Amanda and I meant to watch, but didn't get our act together in time, and just went to the after party instead. We weren't wearing any tweed and thus felt a bit out of place, so we retreated for brunch after a quick walk-through. I wish, though, that I'd had a camera with me, as the bar was quite a sight -- tweed and turntables make an interesting combo. I also knew that the ride would be of interest to BSNYC. So, in my ongoing quest to get a shout-out on his blog, I forwarded the Washington Post story (linked to above) to him.

Of course, I wasn't the only one. The quest for 'snob recognition continues.