TGIF...and Happy Easter.

Another April Fool's day has come and gone, another Easter is now upon us. Since we as humans tend to look at holidays with a sense of amazement and we regard them as a milestone in the passing of time. How often do we hear "wow, it's Easter already?" or "Wow, how can it be 4th of July already? Where has the time gone?" So as the march of time wears on, we pass holiday after holiday and occasionally consider what we've accomplished to this point in the year.

As a cyclist, we find that holidays are less important to gauging what has been accomplished in life than the general populace. Our accomplishments are measured as races and calendar events, training miles and hill climb times. Every race day becomes a holiday, another chance to cut loose and measure our progress. Many people life their lives by the professional racing calendar, wringing their hands in anticipation of races like Paris-Roubaix, Ronde Von Vlaanderen and Liege-Bastonge-Liege (I apologize in advance for my horrendous spelling, but I am French language retarded.)

Holidays are tough times of the year for cyclists. We love spending time with our family, but there's an interesting dichotomy in that our bikes are often considered family, or very nearly so. All too often, a holiday affords us a day off from work, which would be considered a gift of family time. There always is a tough decision to make: human family or bike family? The tyranny of the work week can often drive us to crave the freedom of the open road (or trail) as an outlet for our stresses, frustrations and emotions, and the gift of a day without paperwork, phone calls or meetings is a godsend. However, when we consider the two families at odds with one another, it becomes a balancing act of epic proportions.

So what can you do? You've got all day, a gift from "the man", and you need to get your fix. Ride early, ride late, ride with your other family, or just plain ride. Your other family will understand. They'll see the grin, feel the aura of happiness and joy, and all will be right in the world.

Just don't overcook the ham by going on a ride and forgetting it's in the oven.

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Whatever. Ride tough, keep the rubber side down.