If high pressure can have a stranglehold on the region, then call me the Son of Sam.

Or maybe that was Gacy.  Or some other creep.  What I'm really trying to say is this:

Get out and snatch yourself some singletrack from right out of the maw of old man winter.  Before he really gets his teeth into it and mangles the poor thing.  Web searches for an appropriate image to insert here were limited in time, and came up way short, so I'll just use this:

mangle, wrangle, etc.  don't dig this guy.

  

Other important things to consider in this Decembra-July that we seem to be enjoying:
TOY LIFT:
Remember that sense of euphoria and limitless potential you felt riding your first bike?  You can help give that gift to hundreds of area kids.  For the past four years area cyclists have helped build and inspect bikes for the annual Toy Lift. Last year over 550 bikes were built in 2.5 days and we're looking to increase that number this year.  EVERYONE's help is needed - the mechanically inclined and the not-so-mechanically inclined.  Start and end times are subject to change, so contact Shawn Tevendale at 434.409.4666 before showing up.  The current schedule is Wednesday (11a - 9p), Thursday (9a - 9p), and Friday (8a until done) at the old Circuit City building in Albemarle Square.  
If you'd like to donate a bike to the cause, bring it to the Toy Lift on Friday or bring it to Blue Ridge Cyclery earlier in the week and they'll deliver it for you.  Want to buy and donate a new bike?  Blue Ridge Cyclery is offering 10% off their holiday sale pricing for Toy Lift purchases - and they'll handle delivery!

Yeah, that pretty much makes today the last day to really be a part of this, so if you're actually using this blog as a form of news delivery, Christmas is off.  Hopefully you already got the memo, and you're in route to ToyLift with a sack full of half-functional integrated 7-speed shifter/brake levers that ToyLift leadership can use to beat you with while you build a few bikes in the name of St. Nick.  Bring some ice packs for the drive home.  Merry Christmas. 

Last but not least, and really not necessarily last because I'm hugely out of the loop, whatever that is, Gravel.  Sunday, 10 AM, at B-Wood.  Date, time, and location all subject to change, but again, given my lack of loopage, that's where I'll be.  Consider fatter tires than skinny.  It's 60 degrees and tacky, Jackie, and I've got a hankering for something rugged. 

Legitimate photograps of actual cycling content to follow. 
Up, up, up.