Starting....Now.

Well. It's springtime in Utah. Usually this time of year I am itching to ride every chance I get and working hard to get somewhat race ready.
Some years are more successful than others.
This year has been different. With the difficulties of 2014 behind me I was enjoying winter with a new toy. I jumped on the fat bike bandwagon and was getting a few rides in a week in the dead of winter. It was fun and I thought it was going to make for a killer headstart on summer.  An extremely dry and warm winter put an early end to that season and there I was in spiritual limbo. Still enough snow on the trails to make them sloppy and unridable and not nearly enough snow to make fat biking fun.
Fair enough, I would wait for the normal season to start. No rush.
In February I had another rash of shit luck and found lots of excuses not to ride the road or take road trips to the sun and dirt.
Chief among those excuses has been what doctors have generically termed "Chronic Testicular Pain". Literally this spring has thus far been a pain in the balls. After a general practice physician, two surgeons and two urologists all took turns juggling my nuts. The final course of action was to do nothing.  I have been told that this is a common malady and surgery frequently makes things worse not better.  The prognosis is that the pain usually subsides after about a year.
A...YEAR.
I am now four months in and while I haven't seen a significant improvement I have seen changes that make me think things could improve. My genetic pessimism makes me think they won't, but only time will tell.
While the pain has not been debilitating it has kept me off the bike. Not because riding makes it worse or has any effect. It is like having a headache that only occasionally goes away and frequently plants my ass on a couch for a few days at a time. Not bad enough to miss work but enough to make me not want to do anything else beyond my workday.
As a result, I have about 100 miles in this year.  No shit. 100 miles.
In good years that is my weekly minimum.
Today however, I have had enough. I am fast approaching critical mass. The dreaded "deuce" is in sight and if I don't start riding I will soon be fatter than I have ever been.
So tonight I went out and dusted off the road bike.
I intend to ride in the morning. And hopefully the next morning. And the one after that.
Although I am not quite as fat as I have been in the past, I am less fit than I have been in years. The only race I have signed up for this year is The Crusher. It is two months out. Time to get cracking or I won't even be able to finish it.