Now that the cold weather is here in full swing, getting out and about is as much a struggle of the mind against the elements as it is of the body. Part of it is a matter of peripheral circulation issues; part of it is a matter of equipment and gear. Since the Dolce is a lot more serious a vehicle than the old Excelle was, I need more "technical" apparel to ride it comfortably. In addition to my new headlight and a replacement helmet, my December purchases included a winter cycling jacket, hat and balaclava, a couple of long-sleeved jerseys, a second pair of tights, and some better-fitting shorts.

Then came Christmas week -- no riding, too busy baking Christmas cookies. (With The Other Half's mom getting on in years, it's been harder for her to do the baking... so I baked and iced six types of Christmas cookies -- three made with sugar, three with Splenda. We're finally finishing up the leftovers.) We came back into a batch of snow and mixed precipitation -- not great handling conditions for a road bike.

I finally got out again New Year's Day, intent on working on developing skills for handling the Dolce in light snow cover and slush. Slush I got -- though I had to ride to a mostly-abandoned parking lot to find it. The snow, however, had mostly melted. This week I got out once. Errands kept me out most of the day, adding about 16 miles to my year's total, bringing me up to 25 miles for the year. And as it turns out, the salty, road-dirty slush trail up the back of my brand new gray and white winter cycling jacket did not come out in the wash. I know these are technical clothes, form follows function, and all that -- but the apparently permanent nature of the road stain... bugs me.

On the plus side, I finally got officially signed up for the June Tour de Cure and I've started working on my fundraising pages. A few months ago, The Other Half took out the domain 50forFifty.info as a place from which I could market this event. I have links from there to my official Tour de Cure page.

I just need to overcome the "fear of cold" issues and start training.