Grrr... to Brrr...?

NOT SO QUICK! I did get out and bike yesterday. Let me tell you a little secret.

Middle schoolers are unreliable reporters of the weather.

All afternoon I heard dire reports and complaints of how they'd had to go outside for recess and their science class. A sampling for your pleasure:

• It's sooooo windy and cold outside!
• Why do we have to go out? We're just all going to get sicker!
• Is the school trying to kill us? (Obviously this one possesses insight.)

The science teacher herself shook her head and told me to bundle up when I said I was riding.

So I listened and bundled up. And walked out into pure sunshine and 40 degrees. No, that is not the promised 43 degrees, but sheesh, we've had teens and 20s. I was sweating within a mile. I had to stop at a friend's house to ditch layers. But then -- I had my first ride. And it was BEAUTIFUL. My bike is awesome. There is nothing, no thing, like a bike that fits you like a glove. My bike fits.

How does it feel? Like the hills aren't as hard. Like immediate response when I push down on my pedals. Like my tires grip the road and go. Like butter.

Speaking of butter, I think of FOOD when I bike. Unlike any other workouts, I obsess about food. It had been so long that I didn't remember - until I smelled homemade chicken pot pie as I was riding last night. There was no pot pie in sight. Nor a chicken for that matter.

Rest assured, I did get to eat. I biked to a birthday party. My calories were replaced. View exhibit A.




Net sum:
Sunlight, Snow, Serra, & Me: 17.5 miles, 1:01. (That wind they complained about was a tailwind. Woot!) I am back in the saddle. View exhibit B.