Spring

Growing up, I was a strictly a lover of Summer and Winter. Summer was sans school, time filled with some random job that didn't require any real type of thought, ambition or responsibility. Activities included but not limited to: bike rides to the nearest (or farthest) ice cream place, fishing in the local cities water supply, riding that razor thin fine line between having a really good time and not getting into trouble. Winter was all about potential. If all the correct pieces fell into place then any type of terrain became an opportunity for building snow caves, toboggan jumps, trips up North to VT. to visit real mountains. Just pure bliss. Spring and Fall ? well, in Southern New England, those seasons were just spent...waiting. Waiting for the mud to dry up and the mosquitoes to die off or waiting for the first snow flakes.

These days, it's the "tween" seasons I'm growing to appreciate, especially here in Colorado. Spring and Fall creates the possibility of melding all favorite activities. This past weekend proved just that. Saturday with temperatures rising rapidly into short sleeve and shorts territory, five of us from work decided that an LSD ride was in order. Long Slow Distance for the uninitiated. We gathered mid morning on a mix of cyclocross bikes and skinny tired contraptions and headed North to Palmer Lake. Depending on your starting point, it's about a 50-60 mile jaunt along the Front Range path that runs North to South. This ride marked my maiden voyage of the Independent Fabrication Planet Cross pictured above. I had taken a few rides back and forth to work just to sort out the functional bits but those rides don't count. I picked up this frame with the intention of using it strictly for rides like this, figuring the weight penalty was too much to bear for that of a race bike. The more I ride this bike, the more it's proving me way wrong. It's doesn't ride like it's a pound and a half heavier than the Jamis. it's extremely lively and surefooted. The geometry is spot on and inspires confidence which is what I hope for when swinging a leg over a new bike. I'm sure that it'll be brought into service come Fall. Needless to say...I am a huge fan.
I woke up Sunday and got online to check weather, it looked as though another repeat of perfect was in store. More front range options abound but Jen and I figured we'd load up the Element and head for the hills for a day on the slopes. We were met with sparse crowds, abundant sunshine, superb snow conditions and smiles everywhere....yes, I'm getting soft, I don't crave mid January days when I'm stuffing those little heating packets into the toe box of the boot in order to revise some piddly amount of blood flow to the nether regions of the feet. Bring me Spring!! Thanks for reading, the calender is filling rapidly so I'll try to update here as often as possible
Shotty