Through the Looking Glass(es)

I've got to say that today's weather was crap, a little breezy, cold, and it basically drizzled all day.....perfect weather for a ride outdoors. I really didn't feel like staying inside today so I got all dressed up with all my cold weather gear and threw on the clear rain jacket and headed out for what I had planned as a 4 hour ride. After about 2 hours I was pretty wet on the bottom half of my body, my feet were soaked and cold and I was ready to head home. Problem was that I wasn't any where near home but I took a few shortcuts and made it back home in 90 minutes, basically cutting off 30 minutes of my ride and getting back to the warmth of home as quick as possible. I did a route through Whitnall Park out towards the Sports Complex in Franklin, then through Franklin towards Waukesha and then I took my short cut through Waukesha to make my way back home. It was 3.5 hours of cold, wet riding but I tried to make the most of it, knowing that 3.5 hours on the road was better than 3 hours+ on the trainer. It's rides like today that you really have to do stuff to motivate yourself to keep going, because it's so easy just to make the excuse that it's really crappy out and you don't need to be doing this today, there will be better weather tomorrow or some other lame excuse. Well, I didn't figure that making excuses would help me be any better come Spring so I was glad that I got out and rode. A saying that I like to go by quite often on the bike and in life is this...."your effort is a portrait of yourself".....so I said that to myself quite a few times today on my ride to keep me out there. I also used a little bit of imagination and as I was riding through the rain and cold I tried to picture myself somewhere in Europe riding a classic or something in miserable conditions.....I took a picture of it for everyone to see......

This is what I really saw through the glasses

This is what I imagined I was seeing for a little motivation

Anyways, I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, it all depends on the weather when I wake up I guess. If the roads are still nasty and it's cold then I'll just ride the trainer during the Packer game, otherwise I will try to get out for 3 hours before the game. Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer than today, but they also said it was supposed to stop raining this morning, it's 10:30 now and I think it's STILL raining. Well, that's it for now, until next time......