March along now
Well…February has come and gone. And I’m happy about that…it’s been a rather crappy month weather-wise. And I’m not even talking about the REST of the country, getting HAMMERED by winter storm after winter storm. We’ve had our own storms. And it’s been cold. Cold by CA standards I mean. The big storm this last weekend that was possibly going to drop snow down below 1000’ never quite happened that way, though we did get the storm, and it was indeed quite cold all weekend long. I think it made it down to around 2000’ is my best guess, looking at the hills around us. Only Figueroa Mt and the Sierra Madre Ridge got snow up here. Oh well, easy come easy go.
However, during the weekend before this last one is when I got MY cold. It was raining all day on Sat, so I rode on Sunday. Did a 4 hour ride, my usual weekend’er. I typically leave around 9am, and I usually dress for the conditions it is then, as it warms up as I ride. So, I ended up running late which is fine, gives it extra time to warm up some. I hit the road by 9:30, and it was reading about 52 degrees. Chilly but do-able. I have my arm-warmers, leg-warmers, toe-warmers, and wind vest on. Didn’t opt for long-finger gloves, as the day’s high is supposed to be around 56.
So I head out of town, and it’s slowly getting colder as I ride. Hmmm…well, THIS can’t continue I figure, so along I pedal. I get to the canyon turnoff and it’s prob holding around 50 but sunny. Still do-able. Up the canyon I climb…and MAN does it get chilly in the canyon! The roads are still soaked from the previous days rains, and it just flat feels like it’s cold. 10 miles up the canyon and it’s hovering around 42 at the top. My toes are numb, my fingers are ice-cubes. My legs are fine cuz I’ve been climbing the whole time. But now I need to go DOWN. This is gonna suck. But down I go, and I wasn’t imagining things…it’s freakin’ COLD! I crawl out of the canyon finally, an ice-cube on wheels. And I then battle the headwind all the way home, but at least the temps are back in the low 50’s. By the time I get home I’m as cold as I can remember being in a LONG LONG time. But I made it, and was better for it (or so I thought).
By that night I had a tickling in my throat and the coughing had begun. I felt fine, just seemed like I had dust or something making me cough. By the next morning I wasn’t feeling quite so chipper…but I went to work anyway. It was odd, like a minor cold coming on. Only it was purely in the lungs. I was all congested there and coughing a lot. Tue morning dawns and I feel like I got beat up by a baseball bat, AND I had chills. So I stayed home in bed all day, freezing to death even though I had the furnace cranked. By that evening the chills had gone but I couldn’t hardly force myself to eat anything. Luckily I had some Carnation instant breakfast pouches in the pantry..I could choke those down every now and then. I had some congestion in the head now, but nothing like any cold I’ve ever had. By Weds morning I felt better and went to work…but it was a LONG day I can tell you. I still could barely make myself eat as I felt nauseous most of the time, and was still coughing up a storm. Thurs comes and goes w/ no real change. Friday brings more of the same…but I made it to the weekend.
I feel better come Sat, but still not real big on eating (which is SO unlike me btw). Sun rolls around and I can even eat breakfast now…yehaw! Only small amount of congestion still hanging out…that, and the WICKED cough I can’t seem to lose. last night was the worst so far for the cough…I laid down and boy was it horrible…felt like I was suffocating. Felt so bad that I actually called my Dr. this morning for an appt…only she was totally booked today…I see her tomorrow morning.
So..we shall see what kind of critter has latched onto me…never had a cough like this before in my life. Haven’t broke any ribs or pulled any muscles coughing (yet)…but sometimes it feels like I might. All this from going out and riding in the cold. Hmmmm. How on earth do the pro’s do it? They ride in MUCH worse weather than that all the time. The entire Northern Spring Classics for example…almost every single one of those races puts my paltry conditions to shame. They can have it, just reaffirms why I’m a FAIR WEATHER RIDER!
I do know this weekend was our scheduled “Tour of Vandenberg”, where Greg and his friends all show up at the base and I sign everybody in and we proceed to do a near century all over the base. A guided-tour of a gigantic space-launch complex. They were really looking forward to it, and this morning I canceled it, as there is no way I’ll be ready to ride that far. Didn’t ride at all last week, nor this weekend, and don’t see any rides THIS week either. We’ll see about the weekend…depends on how tomorrows Dr. visit goes. I know that the weekend after this one is the annual Solvang Century ride. I won’t be doing it again this year, which is a good thing. I’m in as poor of condition as I’ve been in at this time of year since I started road-riding 5 or 6 years ago. I just DESPISE this weather we’ve been having. And it’s not even the windy part yet. That is coming later this month..or possibly any day now. Lovely, I can hardly wait.
And such is life. Hope everybody else is able to stay warm and avoid the dreaded bugs that are lying in wait to JUMP on you at any given moment. Hopefully you are getting that early Spring that Punxatawney Phil promised you.
