Still Kickin'

25 degrees here, a couple of fluffy inches there, what color wax do I use on my skate skis today?  All fitting observations for a motivated cyclist in training, right?  Eh, no.  Okay.  My first race is a good four months away and honestly, I'm thinking more about report cards due in late January and how I'm going to explain the dog vomit spewed into my car's rear seat latch mechanism by my otherwise healthy, happy and beautiful dog, Ellie.  Winter has been in and out so far this year, like many recent years.  And, like many recent years, it has me regretting not buying a Prius one day and opting for the V6 whatever the next.  Okay, no, I'm not that shortsighted.  It is almost debilitatingly frustrating when you ski in 22" of snow one day and then three days later it's rainy and 75% gone.  Add to that that you have to drive back from vacation to go be a teacher again and, arrgh, I swear I had thoughts of driving straight into one of many endless groves of spruce trees and ending it all.  But I digress....
I'm writing mostly with no bike-related updates or celiac-related updates.  I just wanted to remind all of my readers (me) that I'll be back in full (and much better) force come April, when the snow starts to wane and I'm no longer feeling like strapping on the skate skis.  I have temperamental motivation these days, I think due to two things: that I'm getting older and that I have so much freakin' responsibility as a school teacher that I don't know how I'm supposed to fit in anything else into my life.  But there's always that voice, constantly at surface level, nagging me, coaxing me, seducing me: you are a bike racer; get on your fucking bike!  That voice is insufferable and irresistible at the same time.
The Helix OS is on the trainer, I put in a solid five hours of various endurance activities this weekend, and I'm looking forward to the snow that promises to keep falling this week.  The alpine and Nordic areas need it.  Winter is just as short as summer and I'm in no rush to be hitting the pavement.  Happy skiing.