March Madness

I have been having a hard time coming up with stuff to write about. It is Saturday morning and I really should be doing my expenses from the past week. Since I am not really fond of doing paper work I am going to try and come up with with something to write about while I drink my morning coffee.

The last time I got a good ride in was on March 3. I have tried one other time but the wind was blowing so hard that I was struggling to get up Holland Hill Road. I am also sick of riding in the cold. I have been working in Richmond, Virginia during the week and it is well into spring down there. If I had my bike with me I could have gone on several nice rides wearing the new bib shorts I purchased at The Peddler with the gift certificate my parents gave me for Christmas. Unfortunately, here in New Jersey we are still fighting off the last gasps of winter. In fact there will be no riding today since there is snow and freezing rain in the forecast.

Good Friday was sunny but windy and I could not get my head around a ride. The thought piling on 4 layers and heading out to fight the wind did not seem worth it. I ended up going to the gym. On the way to the gym I saw a rider at the corner of Laurel and Holland. Made me feel wimpy for not being out on the bike. I justified it by telling myself that I was on the way to the gym and I need to build some muscle for the coming spring/summer/fall riding.

Sunday looks better but it will not be a shorts ride. I am going to have to go out early since I am returning to Richmond on 7:30 PM flight out of Newark. I keep thinking I should start driving down and bringing a bike. I do have flights lined up for the next two weeks. I am going to have to think about it. Driving by myself when I can take mass transit just seems kind of wasteful.

Instead of riding I have been spending a lot of time in the gym. My weight workout has been mostly what I call heavy lifting (dead lifts, snatch and jerk, flat bench) with some cable pulls and machines thrown in at the end when I start to get tired. As much as I miss riding it is great to feel strong.

I have been watch a lot of college basketball. Two weeks ago I spent over an hour on the eliptical machine watching Syracuse beat Marquette. It was a great game however the momentum did not carry through to an NCAA tourney bid so Syracuse will spend the rest of March playing in the NIT. It seems like Richmond is where all the Virgina Tech grads go to make there fortunes so it would be cool if Syracuse and VT met at some point. They love college sports in Virginia and North Carolina.

I lost the feeling for college basketball when I moved to New Jersey but I still try to watch the NCAA brackets. If Syracuse is not playing I usually root for the underdogs although I think that UCLA and UNC will meet in the finals. I watched San Diego upset UConn on Friday afternoon while I was doing my cardio workout. What a great game. San Diego will play Western Kentucky who upset Drake. Number 12 seed (West) and number 13 (West) seed play each other. I am still not sure why the West bracket is playing Tampa, Florida. When people say they are heading west Florida is not usually the state that comes to mind. However, Tampa is on the west side of Florida.

I cannot put off the expenses much longer. I have 3 cups of coffee in me now so I think I am ready to start. I am going to see which teams are playing today so that I can schedule my workout.