All The Leaves Are Brown

I am tired. Exhausted, really. "Springing forward" likely didn't help matters, but I've found myself feeling as though there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. All things in life have suffered. I've volunteered myself and taken on too many projects and have worn thin. It happens to us all at some point, I suppose. Some days, I just want to take a long, long nap, hoping that it will reinvigorate me. I feel spring coming and the panic of all the projects that need to get completed and I get overwhelmed. We've worked through winter to attempt to limit what needs to be accomplished in early to mid spring, but the tasks seem to keep multiplying.

We did manage to get out and ride yesterday for a short bit. Which was nice. This always clears my mind (at least for a short time) and makes me appreciate everything much more. What I realized while riding though is how very brown the world is here this time of year. I see photos of other locations and flowers are blooming, trees in some parts are even starting to turn green, but I know we are still two months out for any of that sort of happening (other than tulips, which I'm convinced are going to pop up any day now). Since we can get snow through mid-May quite commonly, it's not surprising that most of the green waits a bit longer to bud and bloom.

As we rode, I couldn't help but be struck by the immense dullness that covered our surroundings. The fields have all been plowed with nothing growing, no trees have bloomed, grasses are waiting to show signs of life. Even the asphalt on the roads seemed to blend with the empty fields. Everything is just kind of the same shade of drab. I've commented in the past that I don't find winter to be uninteresting as there can often be different shades and tones of tan, yellow, orange and brown, but at the very tail end of winter, I often find this very similar dustiness to take over all color variations, particularly when moisture hasn't been as plentiful as usual. I suppose it gets me that much more anxious for spring to arrive.

Riding this time of year also helps remove some of the panic that can take over knowing that the warm months seem to be short and the list of things to do quite long. We have plans to attempt longer distances on the tandem, races to ride and run, and personal goals to complete before we are sent back into the colder temperatures.

I have post plans for this space as well, if life will just cut me a bit of slack. I will say that our tandem rental adventure was quite the disaster. After a lot of chatting with the shop about our needs and our lack of height, we thought we had a possibility settled, but it turned out that it was still too large a bike for us to test. We were disappointed to not have an opportunity to test out a bike that could be more appropriate for road rides, but we realize (and did prior to the rental as well) that tandems are not made for those of shorter stature -- at least in standard production. So, we may have to jump in with both feet and try a custom purchase in order to truly test our theories. Time will tell on that front.

The "new" single bike for me has not seen much use yet. I have hopes to get out for a longer ride this week, assuming that the weather cooperates (and it appears it will). I'd love to have a better sense of that bike, but thus far it's been comfortable and a good ride given our limited time together thus far.

In the meantime, I am anxiously awaiting blooming flowers and green to have a break from the dreary colors of winter, and am thankful that we are able to get out and ride occasionally. I hope you're enjoying some good rides as we inch closer to spring. Feel free to share what you are up to in the comments as well.