Precipitation, accumulation

It's rainy. All week has been rainy. This means snow in the mountains, but I went skiing for the first time this season last weekend. Before the snow came. My timing isn't great right now, but we got a pretty awesome show on our way up Saturday thanks to a gorgeous sky and some freaky clouds. Looks like a cuttlefish.

On top of the rain, or perhaps somehow linked to it, I'm sick. These things combine to make me the least motivated human. I can barely fathom biking to work today, but hope that I will in the end. On that note though, since my last post I've been marking miles biked per day still, including the 5-mile round trip ride to work. That, plus a couple of modest rides, brings this update total to 234 miles, which isn't too bad at all. It's nice to see that little bits each day help. In fact, this is one of my favorite concepts in life and why I think I'm so drawn to water: repetition, time, and persistence, however small the stream of action or water, will in the end make a significant difference. Maybe it will be sunny again soon and I can keep going on rides.

The good rides have been challenging. The routes around here contain significantly more hills than my Tiburon rides (other than the Mt. Tam ride), and I'm more out of shape. This creates the unique challenge of trying to not blow up so that I can ride better for the whole route. My heart rate monitor has been crucial in this, and while it's hard to not just go for it, it's nice to have some instant feedback. It lets me release my normal frustrations; I don't care if I get passed, I don't care if I'm just grinding slowly up the climb. Requires toning down the killer instinct for a minute, but the logical coach reminds me that this is the best way to get fit. Blowing up will do no good. So hopefully, if I can do enough of these rides, I can start worrying about hunting other bikers more and less about my heart rate. Lugging 220+ lbs up 5-7 miles of continuous climbing is not conducive to bike hunting. Doesn't matter though, because the views along Skyline Drive are totally epic. I once went up Skyline from 92, and once down. Either way, seeing the ocean, San Francisco, and all the way down the bay to Milpitas is something special. Check it out.

On the theme of continuous little efforts resulting in larger positive results, I fixed some small things on the M5 which felt good. I found out that the electric switches you push to raise/lower the windows and sunroof fail after a while, and working used ones are readily available on eBay. Internet magic, as I researched the problem on the internet, then used internet money from blogging to pay a man on the internet to buy car pieces for a car I found on the internet. Also fixed a dead foglight. Both endeavors required small modifications, but it was fun to know that I could do it, and I'm glad to have those little gremlins solved for now.

So, plugging along. Contrasting the small streams, I'm trying to unleash the dam on my sickness and kill it in a deluge of liquid: tea, orange juice, water, and soup. Feeling slightly better today but still off. Maybe once the rain leaves it will wash away the scratchy throat and tight lungs, leaving me as sunny as a 75 degree March afternoon in Northern California.