March 19. We can make it, Spring is just 48 hours away! Skies of blue, the warmth of the sun, tiny balls of rabbit fur scurrying to the brush. A re-birthing. Renascence. A fresh start, a new beginning, growth. Change.

Having spent my first 20 years in Los Angeles, I always thought shorts and a T to be standard issue. Even in the harshest of the LA winters a hoodie is considered foul weather gear. I well remember our first winter in Central Washington, snow, frozen pipes, chains, thermal underwear, chopping wood. It was great. I loved it then, as I still love now the distinct changing of the seasons. It can be challenging. There is work involved. It can get messy. There are days that I wish the rains would cease and the skies would brighten. I sup with Vitamin D these days, try my best to keep a cord of dry wood ready. Fleece and a trusty waterproof jacket is my fashion statement. Gone from Surfer Joe to Paul Bunyon over four decades.

And we now spend the majority of our time training indoors. Of my thirteen sessions last week, eleven were indoors. The reasons are many. Economics, logistics, safety, value, time constraints, the list goes on.

And please do not misconstrue. I love the outdoors. I simply prefer the suffering of high intensity indoor training to the risk and misery of riding in the tenebrous torrent of a winter's day.

I had an interesting thought last week that might start a ad campaign of sorts. My Mad Men moment. It started with the axiom of not being concerned about the things that are out of our control when we race. Our competition, the conditions of the roads, the weather. That to be successful in any event we must rise above those extrinsic factors and focus instead on the things that we control; our thoughts, the present moment, what we are, or are not, doing to execute as best we can. Our perceived levels of happiness, gratitude and awareness.

As I was processing all this, the irony dawned that we actually CAN control the weather. And I became the face of the Man Who Could Control the Weather. Kinda like the Marlboro Man without the cancer.

Fact is that we can control the weather. We can live in sunny Southern California (sharing the road with 3.7 million others) or we can live where it rains, is dark in the winter and reminds us of the natural cycles in nature.

The Man Who Could Control the Weather trains indoors.

Addendum: Looks like I forgot to link the Saturday night video for the home viewing entertainment of the vast RCVman audience. That being said, here ya go: Live from the House O'Mirth.