Outside!!!

I think this nice weather is probably a mean trick.  Undoubtedly, winter still has a few more brutally cold days in store for us, but right now it feels like spring.  Since it was 65 degrees today I decided that I needed to ride outside…and that is exactly what everyone else in Plainfield thought.  The trail was congested with runners, dog walkers and double-wide strollers.  There was even one gentleman who was so excited about the weather that he did not even take the time to change out of his jeans before he went on his run.  I love the first few warm days of the year because everyone is in a good mood.  People on the trail smile and say hello as they pass.  Later in the summer everyone will be to into their IPOD and workout to notice the other people around them. 

It was great to ride outside again.  It kind-of felt like I was flying…and I guess compared to the 0 mph I was doing on the trainer I was flying.  The first half of the ride felt great and I thought, “Wow, I could do this all day, and that is a good thing because this summer I will be doing this all day.”  By the second half of the ride I was starting to think my legs were getting tired and I might want to continue training before I try to conquer the Pacific Coast. 

After three days with temperatures above freezing the trail was almost completely clear of all the ice and snow we have gotten over the last few weeks, but there were still a few places where a layer of ice and slush covered the path.  There was one particularly large section of ice that I, and the seven-year-old riding his bike in the opposite direction, was a little nervous about.  We did some slipping and sliding, but we both made it through without hitting the ground.

This ride taught me an important lesson about puddles.  Riding through puddles causes a lot of spray, and when those puddles come from newly melted ice/snow the spray is very cold on your legs…and butt.  This spray also causes very clean bikes to become very dirty very quickly.  Up until this point the toughest thing my bike encountered was a carpet fuzzy, but today all that changed.  I think I might have spent as much time cleaning my bike as I did actually riding my bike.

I went 10 miles today.  On July 15^th I will ride 116 miles.  I’m not exactly sure what I think of that right now J