'Tis the Season...

...of a skier/cyclist's discontent.  I'm staring out the nose-imprinted windows of my classroom at a partly cloudy sky and a very mild-looking block of warmth.  It's nearly 70 outside and it's the end of October in the mountains of Vermont.  Just three days ago there was enough frost on the roads to make biking down the gaps a deadly endeavor.  It's these flip-flop weather patterns that drive me nuts this time of year, almost more so than a January thaw or a July cold snap.  One moment the weather taunts my yearning to wear my ski boots around the house in an effort to stave off early season shin bang.  I've even brought my skis in for a stone grind the second weekend of October (very early for me).  The next moment, however, I'm shedding the leg warmers, removing the fleece cap from beneath my helmet, and considering only wearing a jersey with arm warmers and maybe a vest.  Mother Nature is continuously trying to convince me to practice polygamy:

Appalachian Gap'd at the Allen Clark Memorial Hill Climb

24:27.  32 seconds faster than the previous Allen Clark Hill Climb record set by Stefan Bumbeck in god knows when.  Unofficial records seem to indicate the the record stood for 12 years.  Do the math.  Okay, I'll do it for you.  1998!  I was a freshman in college in the fall of 1998.  Wow!  Back in the fall of Elliott Smith's XO, which played on repeat in my 1992 model JVC stack stereo my dad purchased for me for my birthday in 1992, when I was in seventh grade.  Man, that stereo sounded so great.  Thanks, dad.  Anyway...