I’ve often said that any day you can see your shadow is a good day. I like the sun, I don’t like gray. I like contrast, and when you can see your shadow, there’s contrast. This morning the sun was out for most of the ride, as were quite a few people. No way I’d be able to name them all but I’ll try… Karen, Karl, Marcus, Kevin, Kevin, Eric, George, Todd, Nigel, Mike… including me that’s only 11. OK, that might be right, 11 is a pretty decent size group for our ride.

It was on the climb up Kings where the contrast actually become a bit much for my tastes. The contrast between myself, admittedly weakened a bit by a cold that’s hung on for several weeks, and my son, who’s getting faster and faster. He got to the top of Kings wondering where 9 seconds went (27:08, a very good time for the middle of winter) while I got up just over two minutes later. It was less than a year ago, seriously, that we considered having Kevin start up a couple minutes earlier than the rest of the group.

Shadows & Fog. Shadows are a reflection of what and where you are. They’re definitive, as in, right now, everyone else is faster than me. The Fog represents a potential that may or may not be reached. I’ll get stronger and lose weight as we emerge from winter, but will it be enough? Kevin is at 182, I’m at 173. I hope to get back down to 167 like I did last season, so I have potential. But if Kevin leans out, things could really get wild. Thus a foggy future!