Warm weather cycling

Woo hoo, another wonderfully warm day today! High of 66*F here today. I don't usually ride my bike much while my girls are in school, because I'm paranoid about crashing or flatting and being late and having no one able to pick them up from school. But today I couldn't resist! Even though the winds were gusting up to 30 mph, I couldn't resist taking Buttercup out for a spin on our nice country roads.

Gosh, it sure felt like I was working harder on that return leg to maintain some speed, but the heart rates tell the tale - I was working just as hard on the way out into the wind when I was only going 14 mph. I guess that's just going to be my Poor Woman's Power Meter because I'm not going to spring for the real thing.

I realized something else new on this ride: a new important cycling safety feature. My NEON DAY-GLO WHITE LEGS in January in cycling shorts are a big deterrent to cars. I was surprised that none of the drivers had to scream and cover their eyes from the glare.

My body composition work is going well in preparation for my March races - I'm 80% decided that I'll do the full marathon instead of the half marathon on March 2nd, and so far I'm 2.4 pounds down for the first 8 days of 2008. More than a kilogram less to carry around the course! Hurrah! I'm definitely hoping to keep this trend going in the same direction all the way until race day!