A weekend without Snow !!

Last weekend a few of us from the MABRA community attempted to escape the snow by heading south.  There were races happening in North Carolina and while I'm not quite race-ready, I love NC and couldn't pass up a reason to make the trip. I took Friday off, picked up a way-ward cyclist who needed a lift and made what turned out to be a long and difficult trip around the beltway to get south of town.  Left my place around 9am, picked up SuperDave around 1030 (thats how long it took me to get to Olney with a short stop in the middle for much-needed caffeine) and finally got south of DC around 1230.  Main highways were plowed for the most part but had what I've dubbed as "magic lanes".  You're rolling along with 4 lanes and out of the blue, the plow must've taken a coffee break or maybe ran out of gas, so the lane disappears without warning.  A little way down the road, the lane reappears.  Seeing as people have trouble driving with regular conditions, this created all kinds of havoc. 

trying to get out my neighborhood - piles of snow as tall as my car !

Finally south of DC, we rolled along at a pretty good clip.  As the "Welcome to North Carolina" sign came into view, Badger called to let me know that it was going to snow that night.  In North Carolina.  Seriously. Temps were unseasonably cold and just as predicted, Carrboro, NC got about 2" of snow.  That was nothing for us northerners seasoned with FEET of snow, but it nearly shut down the town since NC doesn't really get snow.  Unless I'm there, apparently.  The saturday race was cancelled so I enjoyed a good trainer session in the "man room" at Ken and Laura's place ... their garage is set up with race dvds, a projector and a large, white "screen" (sheetrock painted white), the better to suffer by.  That night, Badger and Merdhot arrived and as the second pitcher of margarita's started flowing, I knew there'd be no 8am racing from this household on Sunday.   As suspected, the Johnson household waited until it was warmer to do an impromptu race, which I imagine was much more enjoyable than the 22degree morning that the "real" race offered. 

this is how NC deals with snow

Local heavy-hitter Jen Rasmussen hit the deck and broke her arm during the womens race (this is rumor, I have not confirmed), so send her some luv and get well - tough way to start the race season but I know she'll be back in action sooner than later.

This past weekend was FINALLY a weekend without snow - Badger and I played it safe by doing a computrainer session at Conte's on Saturday morning.  A mildly entertaining adventure, complete with a flat tire on the trainer (that takes talent, doesn't it?).  The mechanics expressed their displeasure with my shifting issues so we agreed to rectify the problem after our team ride on Sunday.  The weather was fantastic and it was borderline surreal to actually be riding outdoors.  A few weekends stuck on a trainer reminds you how lucky we are when the weather cooperates.... More about the team ride will be posted on our team blog in the next day or so. After  the ride, a few of us visited Conte's to stock up on lime-green tires and tape, and to get my shifting issues rectified.  I'm pretty sure I drove just about everyone crazy during the ride. 

Plain-jane, Eeps and Grizzly at Conte's on Sunday.