On the Road Again...

I haven't been on the bike since October 3. It's not been any fun. I find I sometimes need external motivation, and three things have conspired this week to provide that for me.

1) Jon, of Lactic Acid Threshold, is in town for a wedding, and we're going to get a couple of rides in while he's here. I've never ridden with Jon, and while on any normal day, he would kick me all over the road, I'm hoping to use the home court advantage to keep the humiliation to a tolerable degree. We'll ride MTB at Oak Mountain, and a do a road ride, both with the Beast.

2) I stepped on the scale two days ago and discovered that I was cursed with an additional 12 pounds, aquired since returning from a cruise back in March. It's got to come off. No wonder I feel so tired lately.

3) That bright round disc in the sky has returned, and I'd better take advantage of it while it's here. Who knows when we'll start getting rained upon again, and how many weeks it will last before seeing sunshine again.

So, with that in mind, I put on every layer of cold weather gear I owned this morning for my "in the 20s" commute/first ride in nearly 3 months. Turns out I didn't need all that layering as the aforementioned 12 pounds insulated me sufficiently.

In short, the ride hurt. From the first mile of 8% climbing to get away from my house, to the little rollers along 10th South, it was as if I had never ridden before.

I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to the ride home tonight.