another rainy monday. another day with no cycling. i know if i were a real man i’d be out there riding anyway, splashing icy, muddy water all over myself, and having my fingers and toes go numb from the cold. if i were a real man, i would then gladly spend a couple of hours cleaning my bike, getting all the sand and mud out of the drivetrain, taking off the tires and making sure there wasn’t water and dirt in there, etc. etc. etc., all the while watching football (not the little green kind), and grunting like an ape.

“how come we can send a (real) man to the moon but we can’t create a self-cleaning bicycle?” he whined. (now look at what i’ve done. my frustration at being unable to ride has led to a violation of one of my main principles — never start a sentence with “we can send a man to the moon, but…”)

i’m going to have to start accepting that the solvang century ride isn’t going to happen this year. my training schedule is ruined; there’s no way i’ll be in shape for a 100-mile ride with hard climbing.

well, this unreal man is going to take a nice hot shower and then plunge into my PHP studies. you can’t write PHP code with numb fingers. at least i’m not too fat yet.