Weekend Ride Report / Frozen Flatlands

I love Spokane. I really do. So that is why it is painful for me to say this: Spokane Sucks.

Maybe it's a form of cabin fever, but I am getting so sick of the weather that I, a Grade AAA Spokane booster, am thinking about places to move where it is not snowing on the last days of March, where the overnight temperatures are not below freezing virtually every day of March and where my weekend riding will not yet AGAIN be cut out by lousy weather.

Okay, I am willing to admit that Spokane is not having the worst weather in the country. There are serious floods, snow storms and even reports of the first tornado of the year. But I'm not in any of those places, because you can be sure I would be complaining bitterly about all of that too. When roads are under water or being blown by tornadoes, it is also hard to ride, but I'm not those places so I am going to feel free to complain about the weather in this place.

Another issue is that we started this blog at a time when cycling is a bit difficult in Spokane. In January we got enthusiastic about the upcoming riding season, got Team Two Wheel going, started blogging and started riding or wanting to ride. The daily focus on cycling that this blog has produced has also increased my desire to get out on my bike. Therefore it is all the more frustrating that we have had a particularly lousy, crappy, awful, horrible, rotten, no-good riding year so far. It's a damn shame. Next time I start a bike blog I am waiting for nice weather.

Another side effect of this awful weather is that training for, and my personal enthusiasm for, our first race of the season, Frozen Flatlands, put on by the Baddlands Cycling Club, is very low. Two years ago I was focused on being race-ready by the time this event came around. I had ridden the 48-mile course 4 times before the race and had had lots of good back-to-back training rides. This year, I have not ridden the course once. I have gotten in only 2-3 50-mile rides since January and have had maybe 2 weekends with back-to-back good rides. A quick perusal of ride reports will focus on cold weather, wet weather and my ass getting dropped. This is not a good run-up for the first race of the year.

In our area, some bike race organizers have come and gone, but the only weekend race we have each year is Frozen Flatlands. I very, very much appreciate the work Baddlands does to put on this race, but I do wonder why it is so early in the year. I'm sure that someone could explain it to me, but as I contemplate the snow on my lawn and the six days until the race, it does make me wonder. I know that Rider 2 is signed up for the full Omnium, and I think Rider 1 is also. Maybe I should show my support for the race by volunteering, rather than showing my support by taking up space as pack fodder for the first half and then watching the fit guys walk away after Williams Lake. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I will try to think of something not bitter to blog about next time.
Rider 3