When last we met, I mentioned that I had signed up for a couple of races in April. All well and good. But just when I should be mentally focused on the short term, I feel myself losing motivation, losing traction. I'm tired of the rides around my house. I'm tired of training rides. I feel mentally fatigued with cycling rather than enthused. JB was there today to remind me that any ride is better than no ride.

A quiver full of arrows	Cannonball's blowout	No quarter, baby, no quarter

Today I blasted out a 40-mile time trial on the Blade. No stops. I was going to just blow down Cabrillo to Tunitas Creek and back for a 30-miler, but the wind was out of the SW, which meant it was in my face heading south, so I had to change my route a bit. It was blowing a good 15-20 MPH. Steady, but not cold.

Just north of HMB, I decided to take Higgins-Purissima and the Lobitos Cut-off down to Tunitas Creek, then the Cabrillo back north to home. Nearing EG on the return trip, I seized on the idea of 40 miles and went back up through Princeton to Airport Road into Moss Beach and back.

I was really playing the wind today. It was like being out on a links course. Usually, I follow a certain direction in the route because of the prevailing wind out of the northwest. But with the wind coming out the of the southwest, I had to completely reassess my route and wind strategy. You gotta adapt, improvise, overcome.

With the wind at my back on the way home, I got a sense of what it must be like to be a pro rider -- effortlessly gliding up four-degree grades at 25 MPH. Now that's cycling!