tomorrow's ride

yesterday I stood in my garage, all ready to ride, but unable to make a decision about where to ride.
today I stood in my house, unable to make a decision about whether or not to ride.
what's going on with me?

all week I have been mentally prepared for a cool, rainy sunday. so when I woke up this morning to semi-clear skies, I questioned my weather report, and whether or not it would be a riding day. I turned on my computer and went to the weather channel, where it showed little rain drops and clouds for every hour of the day, with precipitation percentages in the 30-50 range.
thus I decided it was a day for yoga, reading, cleaning, writing, and working, all of which make for a very satisfactory sunday.
but what happened is that on my way home from yoga, I saw boys on bikes. first just one, up by the U of U. then two coming down sunnyside, from emigration canyon. and another one heading up. uh-oh. you can imagine what this did to me. they're out there riding, shouldn't I be, too? I checked the outside temperature, which was 50 degrees. at 10:30, when the high for the day was only supposed to be 47 . . .
the seed had been planted.
at home I worked, read, scrubbed my bathroom ceiling (yes, really), and then at 2 o'clock left to run errands. when I noticed that the temperature outside was now 55 degrees. that little seed had begun to sprout, as you knew it would. it was ridiculous: I had only planned to stay off my bike because of predicted cold and rain, neither of which had come to fruition. I started scheming: if I skipped the grocery store, I could be home by 2:30 and on my bike by 2:45, and could ride for 90 minutes . . . I could go to the store tomorrow, couldn't I?
so I went for a ride.
and it was cold.
a few other stalwart cyclists were out, but it was a lonely ride. a cyclist actually used his vocal cords and said "hi" to me from across the road, and it made my heart sing. he will never know just how much that little bit of effort warmed me up on this blustery, solitary day.
there is definitely a storm moving in, and I watched the clouds separate and re-group, breaking for a time to let the sun pour through, then gathering again and darkening the sky. though I fought a bugger of a headwind on the way up the canyon, I had the best tailwind ever on the way down: extra effort on the way up makes a great workout, and the push on the way down gives you a thrill.
while swooping down beacon drive, almost home, the song Riders on the Storm jumped into my mind: I loved this song when I was young! one of my friends must have had the 45, because I can visualize us listening to it, watching it spin around on one of those portable record players that came in a box you could unbuckle and open up to use. I've been singing it in my mind since I got home, and can hear the thunder and crackle in the background of the recording. gotta love the doors.
so tonight I will relax and watch the weather change, knowing that I've done tomorrow's ride already, and the gift of that is that tomorrow morning I will sleep in.
ahhh.