there are good days and bad days

Since it's so damn cold in the mornings here and gets dark so early, I've been lugging my bike to work with me in the truck and riding after work while it's the warmest part of the day and still daylight. Yesterday it was 46 and beautifully sunny, which made for a nice 15+ mile ride around Biltmore Forest. Biltmore Forest is an ultra-rich township within Asheville, right next to Biltmore House and down the road from Asheville High, where I work. It's not very big, but there are lots of roads (hills!) to weave in and around and there's not a lot of traffic. While it's not the ideal road ride scenery (disgustingly big houses that I will never and would never want to live in), it has its' advantages for quick after work pedalling. Anyway, to sum up my point, yesterday I went on a lovely ride. Today I did not. Eric needed the truck today to go to Charlotte tonight so he dropped me off at work with my bike and I would commute home. Usually when this happens I like to take the long way home and ride through Biltmore Forest to the Blue Ridge Parkway and take that over to our end of town. That's what I did on Friday and it was great. Well, except for the parts when my calves were seizing up on me! That's what happens when you ride as hard as me. Anyway, today I intended to do the same ride home. The forecast today called for cloudy skies followed by rain/snow in the evening, but it ended up being super sunny all day. When I left work at 4ish it was sunny and 46. I had to stop at the bank, which ended being a 45 min detour. When I emerged from the bank it was about 10 degrees colder, cloudy, and starting to precipitate. I got about 1/2 mile down the road and it started to hail! That felt real good on my freezing cold face, like little rocks being whipped at me. The hail turned into rainy snow and persisted for the rest of my ride home. Fun stuff! I was pissed off and the only reason I kept going is because I had no other choice. There was no one to come pick me up and that would be pathetic anyway. The best part, I got home and our trash can and recycling bins were still littered across our front yard since yesterday. Thanks, Eric!