See? This is why.

For the better part of the last month or so, those who have Saturdays free to ride have had better weather than those who have Sunday free. How do I know? Because after reading ride reports and Twitter back-and-forth, I get psyched to head out on Sunday.

And then it rains/snows/freezes over/etc., and I'm stuck inside.

This Sunday was a bit of a reprieve from the cycle. It was 32 or 33 degrees most of the night, and was still right there when I was ready to roll. Given the freeze/thaw/freeze business that goes on at that temperature, I figured it would be a good day to take the Top Fuel rather than something with skinny tires.

About two minutes into the ride, I was pissed that I bothered to take anything outside. There are a few ways out of my subdivision, and in the winter it involves Fort Street, almost without fail. That's not a huge deal, since it's a wide three lanes with plenty of visibility. Oh, and it's 10 a.m. on a Sunday.

But one can also cut through Standing Bear Lake and get out of town a little bit quicker. And since I saw the trails had been cleared, I headed that way. Aside from dodging a gigantic doberman (put your stupid dog on a leash, a-hole!), it wasn't too bad. The ice was easy to see and the snow was pretty crunchy.

Well, except for the ice that wasn't easy to see. The landing was crunchy, though. Basically, the front wheel slid out, I landed on my left knee (and a little bit of left hip ... again) and that was it. Nothing scratched, nothing scraped.

"This is why I ride inside with the roads are crap."

I thought about turning around and bagging it entirely — who needs this? — but soldiered on through the rest of the trail and got out on the open road a couple of minutes later. Smooth sailing from there, though my knee tightened up toward the end. I ended up with about two hours.

Gravel. Whee.

I don't know what this is.

Ice, compression and a handful of ibuprofen have kept the knee issues fairly quiet so far. It's stiff, but I can walk on it OK and range of motion is getting better. What's likely to happen is a reshuffling of workouts. I may just move everything back a day and spend the morning icing it.

And with any luck, the next time I'm free to head outside, I'll be smart enough to just head straight to Fort Street and get on with it.