It is 8am on a cold Thursday morning in January.  I am currently having a mental debate with myself.  The questions are SERIOUS!  What am I going to do today?  The temperature reads 16 degrees but the wind chill makes it feel like 5 degrees.  I could sit here and continue to write throughout the entire day; but honestly, first off I am not that good of a writer, and secondly I know I can not sit still that long.  Wait a second I digressed back to the mental debate I was having.  Should I ride my mountain bike or trail run? This is where the debate begins I was planning on mountain biking: enjoying some sweet Pisgah single track, but it is colder than a witch’s tit outside and the ground resembles the frozen tundra of Lambeau field.  Speaking of Lambeau that rhymes with Flambeaux, Is it Mardi Gras yet?  The Flambeaux carriers are the one’s that carry the flames to light the mardi gras parades.  I bet it is warm in New Orleans. Wait a minute, why am I here?
Am I not usually elsewhere on some grand adventure on the other side of the world this time of year, preferably where it is warm?  Get back focused. Back to that debate, normally I run in temperatures this cold, but it has been this cold for quite a few days now and I miss the mountain bike.  The dopamine received from rolling down some Pisgah single track, or creek boating (can’t kayak today we have not had enough rain, plus it is dam cold) is different then the dopamine received on a long Pisgah trail run.  Trail running is typically so warm though you are cold for about the first 10 minutes and then you are warm the rest of the run. Mountain biking in Pisgah has as many temperature ebbs and flows this time a year as a Grateful Dead show has tempo changes.  Your climbing, your warm; your descending, your cold; your by the creek, your cold; your in the sun, your warm; etc, etc, etc.  If I just go trail run I will be warm have a great run and get my daily Endorphin Fix.

I did that race before, that race was based out of Fayetville, West Virginia. Boy, I bet it is cold there right now. Maybe I should start adventure racing again? Again back to the debate.  If I just wait for this phone call, maybe it will warm up enough to bike. Then I will get some seriously sweet Pisgah single track: almost nobody out there, full option of seasonal trails.  The sun is shining bright through the window as I write maybe it is already warming up.  Maybe I will bike.
Or maybe, I should run I just walked outside and they were not lying about the wind chill factor.  Also I am suppose to be pre running the Pisgah Running Adventure Race for Eric Weaver in the next couple weeks. The extra running miles today would help with that endeavor.   That way when people ask me at the bar today what I did beyond replying, “lived the dream” (went for  a trail run in Pisgah? or biked some sweet Pisgah single track? this is the question of the mental debate so I yet to have an answer).   I can say I wrote a Five Ten Canyoneer shoe review.  At least I am amusing myself as I write this blog.
Oh look Native is throwing a thank you party for the locals only project. Brevard won best small outdoor town.  That is the same weekend I need to recert my WFR, that will be a busy winter weekend, maybe that is why I have not taken my yearly adventure to a far away land, preferably somewhere warm.  Okay back to the real question  sweet Pisgah Trail Run or shredding Pisgah single track?
 
Alright not getting much higher it is now 10:15 and 22 degrees out, todays high is 27 degrees and flurries are expected this afternoon.  I could bike in this and it would be fun and cold, but I believe I will have enough cold, fun on the bike this weekend at the Icycle .  I believe today will be a trail run even though I was planning on biking.  Now that I have found the answer to the mental debate I can continue on with my day.
See this is the life of this mountain guide in Brevard in the deep dark winter months. It is a good life, it is a great life.  Winter is time for me to reinvigorate myself, revitalize myself, and “experience the good life”.  It is a time when the forest is quieter there are few people, naked trees, icicles (that reminds me the icycle mountin bike race is Sat., I look forward to that party), frozen ground, and moments of silence.
 
Oh shit now what am I going to do tomorrow? more running, or some mountain biking, maybe it will be warm enough to cyclecross ride, or we will get enough precipitation to go creek boating.