Today was low/mid 40s and rainy and I rode outside for the first time in weeks. It felt GREAT! I am so sick of the trainer and the cold and snow and ice. It was wonderful to actually go somewhere, wonderful to ride without my knee aching. I somehow managed to miss the real rain --- it was misty and damp and occasionally drippy, but the raging headwind kept me dry. Right after I got home, the thunder and showers started.

I wish I had kept better records of my training last year so I could compare and know if I'm improving. Riding into the headwind was as difficult as it always is, but then Greg Lemond [in my favorite quote] said "It never gets any easier, you just go faster." Am I going faster? God, I hope so. All the hours on the bike and in the gym, just trusting that it will make a difference. But if I had to race Hillsboro today, well, it wouldn't be my finest hour.

I finished reading "The Rider" for the first time, yesterday. And as I rode today, I recognized the voice inside my head -- not that different from Krabbé narrating his race, thinking back over past races and training rides. We all must do it. Although its a bit less existential than the book, I'm sure.

Unfortunately, the rain flooded my basement. Again. And my magnetic trainer sat in a couple inches of water for 12 hours. I wonder if it will work now. I wonder if this is what screwed up my other magnetic trainer. I guess I'll find out tomorrow after I spend a couple hours carrying newly minted garbage out of my basement. At least there will be less this time. And then I'm calling a plumber to figure out why after 5 years, its started flooding all of a sudden.