Today IS a good day to ride!

With apologies to Lt. Worf.

Yippee! First ride to work this year, months earlier than I started last year. Interestingly, it also happens to be National Employee Health and Fitness Day. Not that it means anything where I work.

It was cold out there, but luckily had my arm warmers on under my little hi-viz yellow jacket ’cause I’ll tell you what, you do NOT want that fabric to touch your bare skin when it’s 40 degrees out there. I feel like a rolling advertisement for Trek: Trek bike, Trek jacket, Trek headlight…

It’s really light out there now by the time I get on the bike where I drop the car, so no problems there. I had taillight and headlight going, just the same. Teensy bit of excitement on the way, had to pull over for a police car to go by. I got totally off the road, off the shoulder into the dirt which was good because a couple cars pulled onto the shoulder right behind me.

It took me exactly one hour to ride the distance (13.48 miles), which I think is about 5 minutes better than I was doing last year. I was really conscious of my pedaling technique, trying to keep in mind what Mentor said about the pedaling in a circle. It does seem to help. It’ll be interesting to see how my legs feel when I start the ride home this afternoon. Last year on the first day I rode in (first bike commute ever) my legs already felt like jelly when I started the ride home, they were that tired still from the ride in. Hopefully I’m a little stronger this year, but we’ll see.

And I did not bring my camera, which I know I’m going to regret later. The red clover is blooming now, there are acres and acres of the stuff all over, that I want to get photos of. It’s really beautiful to see. I think they grow it for the bees to make honey. And I pass a big patch of lupines in a field which are really pretty, too. Maybe next ride, or this weekend I can get some pictures.