Chains Required

Uhhh...Something is wrong with this picture...Mind you, this is not Tahoe...this is Marin, you know, coastal town...Why are people putting on chains???

I awoke this morning to find not only measurable snow on Mt. Tam, but that New England was warmer than Northern California for the first time that I can recall in the dead of winter. I can already hear it..."it's warmer than single digits in New England AND sunny California is under snow and COLDER. Ha!" (Well...okay, I know it's March and all, but technically, it's still winter and I can call it the "dead of winter" because there is snow in my front yard, which NEVER happens here).So I loaded up on food, dressed in everything I own and headed out on another four hour journey. Fearing for my life, I opted to stay off of the road bike and the skinny little tires. I have lots of skillz; numb-chuck skillz, bow staff skillz, taking photos from my cellie while descending Mt. Tam AND taking a sip from my waterbottle skillz, but I don't care to test my luck with all of the above on ice and snow on skinny, bald tires. That's a skill I don't think I have mastered...Yet. So Mountain bike it is. My plan was to climb to the top of Tam, check out the sights and snow, drop into Mill Valley on some single track, grab some coffee at Peet's, then turn it around and do some intervals back up Tam and return home. I was greeted with some substantial snow about half way up (1000ft). Just when the trail gets a bit tricky, it gets SLICK! By the time I got to the fire lookout at the summit, there was 5cm of snow, and it was good snow. My tires were squeaking on the snow it was so cold. I wish I had some skis.
I jammed into Peet's after a seemingly forever descent where minor hypothermia was inevitable. Ordered my standard Americano, and jumped back on the bike, just to warm up. Luckily, the sun started to warm me up a bit, because it was fixin for a long miserable 2 hours if I didn't warm up. Back to the top after the intervals, and down the North side into the shade and cold for the long descent home...which meant freezing one more time. Nothing that a hot shower couldn't fix. Mission accomplished.
So today's deep thought went something like this: Recently, I was told that way back in the day, before I ever fathomed racing a mountain bike (in fact, I despised MTB racing back then), that even then, you could have predicted that racing my mountain bike was something I would end up doing.
"Really?" I am kinda tripped out by that. I am searching my memory of my past and trying to see the same thing...but I can't. Especially since not only did the idea of suffering like no other for hours on end NOT appeal to me, but I was tricked into doing it in the first place. I guess, since my primary career as a ski racer was ended prematurely, then I still had something to prove to myself or something.
As I have recently alluded to, I am about over the athlete at all costs thing. It is out of my system (thankfully). I want to end it on a good note...which is what I am doing. Give it everything one last time, enjoy every moment, and then hang it up and call it a chapter in my life. There are so many other things to life...Next.
So the question is...since the past prediction was somewhat accurate, what would you predict now? I am intrigued. I have a few of my own predictions...

Just Kidding...

Enjoy the ride!