It was the best of weekends and it was the worst of weekends. Well it was a good weekend overall. Saturday was excellent and Sunday was cold. Did any one see the finish at the Daytona 500. A guy finished sliding on the roof of his car. Wicked! I did not see the race because I was out riding the bike.

Saturday was a dream. I spent most of the day indoors working on a project and that is a shame in and itself. A nice day wasted. At one point I dropped everything and hit route 12 between Lolo and Lolo Hot Springs for a couple hours. It was so nice to feel the sun on my body as well as nice to bike in daylight as always.

Sunday was a different story. In the morning there was freezing rain. And as I did the day before I spent most of the day on a indoor project. When I finally did get out it was late and cold. I did the same route and as I headed out the head wind was around 15 miles an hour.

The headwind was not only stiff but crisp. The temps had fallen to freezing and it was cloudy. Then it started to hail. It stung my face and I asked myself id this is where i wanted to b. Suddenly the clouds parted and a ray of sunshine hit me. It was a great moment and the rest of the ride was great.

For the last 5 years I have been listening to music while I rode. Sunday I rode out of radio station range and I discovered something. I found out that if you didn't have any distractions the ride is more a ride than a mental music video. You can hear the streams and wind. Best of all you can hear oncoming traffic. I will not ride with music any more.

The best thing about being closer to nature and "the ride" is that I can ride out in the road more and enjoy myself. Before I was crouched at the edge of the road scared that a car would clip or hot me. Now I look around and listen. I am engaged with my situation and I find it more fun and comfortable. I tell you what! coming back to Lolo down the middle of the road with a tail wind was awesome. The skies were in sunset mode and beautiful. It was Zen!