Cabin fever weekend, Vitamin D , Powerbars and Lotto

Many folks have written about the things you see on a bike that don't happen when driving. Today, it was the obsessive/compulsive tobacco farmer scratching Lotto tickets. I watched him blow about 100 bucks.

Normally this would annoy the hell out of me, today I found it utterly fascinating. Especially when he got out of my way, as he blocked the coffee thermos dispensers.

"Dammit! Give me another one! What, do they sell the front and the back first? what a rip-off!! I gotta spend 20.00 to make a dime? This ain't fair, I mean, I work hard for my money, you know? "

I did better this time, though, with the middle eastern attendant, (see last blog, this is a different station, different guy) who was probably worn down by this guy.

He let me hang out, drink coffee , and ravenously consume a whole box of Wheat Thins until I had sensation in my feet again. Amazingly, the rednecks and the farmers in this area did not gawk at me in my space-suit. I had no hassles whatsoever with vehicles on the road either.

The Lotto guy was even cool with directions.

MSN weather said 30 degrees, tolerable, but I forgot to check the wind chill. I didn't care, though, because there was not a cloud in the sky, we have not had that in months.

The ride started out horribly. I felt a borderline bonk coming on, I figured I could shake it off, which I pretty much did. Sometimes I just can't tell if things will just click and I get a "second wind". Your mind also plays tricks with your body.

I slept fitfully last night, which then makes my metabolism trip out all day, and I get cranky. I may have also been slightly dehydrated from the huge coffee I drank this morning. I think it's better to hydrate, then drink your coffee, as the other way around is like playing "catch-up".

So there was a steady 15 MPH headwind, but the sun beating down made me sweat, which was great.

The best part was stopping at Tilley Park, and sunbathing like a hippie in the entranceway of an abandoned farm building. Away from people.

It was amazing, I was out of the wind, and able to take my shirt off, and just bake for a half hour. It was great to finally find a place to do this without having to explain to someone what the hell I was doing. Thank God, no interviews today!

I read recently that doing this will give you about 4000 IUD of vitamin D, the equivalent of taking ten horse-sized supplement pills. Wow! So I got 4 days worth. Modern humans definitely don't get enough, as we are indoors so much. It also said vitamin D reduces your cancer risk by 50% !! Wow.

The Spas in the 1920's called this Heliotherapy. Apparently, sitting behind glass blocks the Vitamin D producing UV's, so you have to get outside and be brave somehow. But it's amazing how warm you can be in the right place.

So smartly, I let some of my layers "de-vapor", I added some more lanolin to face, hands, feet, and even massaged my calves, which was great. I then did some yoga stretches on my legs.

Suddenly, I was in a good mood. The stinging wind over Talcott Mountain hit me once again, but it was now okay. My body took it in as part of the experience, instead of fighting it.

So I made it over hills and valleys, weaving through icy patches.

I decided to take a shot at finding the private stretch below Rainbow reservoir, where I plan to ask permission this spring for striper fishing. They might just let me in if I show up on a bike. On satellite, it looks like there's a farm house there. Hmmm.

Once again, though, Google Earth confused me, and I never found the right road. Some roads on GE are not named correctly.

But I did find a really beautiful kid's park, with a petting zoo, cool trails going around an abandoned tobacco farm leading to the reservoir, they even have a restaurant. Just a fun looking place if you have kids.

And the sun continued to reflect off the snow directly into my brain through all of this.

I rode past a house built in 1752.

Smartly, before I left Afghani-Mart, I dumped some sugar in my water bottle and put hot water in it to keep it from freezing. (Thank God this place was there, all the stores and diners in Poquonnock were closed or out of business! The economy has taken its toll here)

I woofed half the powerbar. This fuel, combined with the Soy fats in the Wheat Thins, revived me, and I began to haul ass down the "quick stretch" of route 187. It was getting dangerously close to 4 PM, where the temp drops exponentially with the wind chill. This is where mistakes can happen. A lapse in attention could cause a crash, recovering from which would cause hypothermia.

This was one of those days where you are convinced that the three things a cyclist needs most are water, air, and sugar.

The sugar thing always amazes me, because it's okay, as along as you are fit, not diabetic, and burn it immediately. And trust me, on a day like today, you will, with the exercise combined with trying to stay warm.

I even ran a mile or two afterwards to get my heart rate up a bit and flush out the Wheat Thins a bit more. It will be interesting to see if my knees can handle this.

A hot bath afterwards put my brain into mellow.

Squeaky was such a good boy today, I talked to him like you would a good hunting dog. A recent tweak to a shift lever has him running great. He's got a broken tooth on his big ring and is trying to adjust to his new derailleur.

But he never made a sound, he was whisper quiet all day. Some days he sounds like small furry animals dwelling in a cave.

I think he sensed that I was not exactly in the groove, so he helped me out, putting his head down, boring straight into the wind. He's completely covered with white road crap and salt. I am convinced this bike will never die. The carbon-fiber crowd sniffs at him, which is precisely why I love him, 35 year old mule that he is.