I finally got to that first long bike ride of the season that had been planned for last Saturday. 51 miles. My total since getting back on a bike now stands at 2746 miles. Today's ride took well over three hours. Mostly this time can be attributed to two things. First, I'm old and slow with muscles that have been under used this winter. Second, the first half of my ride was dead into the teeth of a 15-20 mile per hour wind.

What is it about riding into the wind? Yes, I probably will benefit from the added stress placed on my muscles. No, I didn't enjoy it. But turning for home and riding down wind was fun. On one long return stretch I was able to stay above 30 MPH. That's fast on a bike. Riding with the wind gave me a sensation of power that the pro riding youngsters get to feel all the time. I'm not sure that the brief thrill was worth it. Next time I may just ride the easy direction and then use my cell phone to make a call and have someone pick me up. Would that be cheating?........
10:56:17 PM    comment []