FRUSTRATED!

I had been looking forward to my ride today all week long. I planned to go to Madrone since I haven't ridden there in over a month, but it was not to be. Winter is the height of "Mountain Cedar Fever". For those of you fortunate enough not to have bad allergies, "Mountain Cedar" is another name for the juniper bush found throughout the Hill Country.

When northern winds blow cold fronts through our area, it blows the juniper pollen into the air. Since we've had an unusually mild and dry winter, it hasn't been a big problem until recently.

I am allergic to many things, including dust, mold, cottonwood, and juniper, but when juniper pollen is in the air, it kicks my ass! I started getting symptoms late Thursday, with a dry cough and sore throat. Yesterday I started sneezing and my nose stopped up; enough so that I had to use Vick's Nasal Mist to open up my sinuses so I could breathe last night.

This morning the weather is BEAUTIFUL! The temperature is 50 degrees and the sun is shining; perfect weather for a bike ride and I can't go! One of the reasons they call it Mountain Cedar Fever is because you actually get fever-like symptoms, which I have this morning. My body is sore and my nose is drip, drip, dripping. Argh!

Since we are in standard time, there really is no other time to ride other than the weekends, so missed opportunities really irk me.

One positive note for my weekend - I did lose another pound this week, so I'm headed in the right direction. Now if I could just get my allergies to cooperate...

We also have a new addition to the mountain biker brotherhood - Rigo got a new Cannondale hardtail mountain bike for his birthday this year! He'll be bringing it to SA when they visit, so we can ride. AWESOME!