Last cold morning?

I don’t think this little corn plant enjoyed the crisp morning as much as I did.

When I opened the door to take my dogs out for their morning walk, I realized just how cold it had become overnight.  I thought about throwing on an extra pair of pants to keep my legs warm on the ride into work but I just couldn’t do it. This might be the last below freezing morning we have for a while, I couldn’t waste it by being perfectly warm on the way to work!

Maybe that’s a little weird, but I think it is a little weird when people wish for hot, humid summer days. So there. By the time I arrived at work, the cold was nipping a bit at my legs. It felt like a winter morning all over again when I changed my clothes and saw that my legs were slightly red from the frosty air.

During my shift at work, the boss’s son dropped by on his bike. He is 13 or 14. He and his dad are going on a five day, 400 mile bike tour this summer so they are trying to get in 450 miles before the big ride. We talked about our bikes for a bit and he showed me his bike computer and all the stats, obviously so excited to rack up as many miles as he can over the summer.

I love reading cycling blogs online, you all inspire and encourage me in so many ways. But being able to talk to someone “in real life” and see their enthusiasm for riding, especially at a young age, is completely, totally awesome. Until he said, “So do you have any bicycling tips for me?” and my brain got all scrambled.

I am not good at giving people advice, especially off-the-cuff like that. I stumbled around for a reply, muttering something about “drinking lots of water is important” and “shifting makes a huge difference”. (His mom had mentioned to me that he usually stays in the same gear, a habit his dad is trying to break him of.) Oh well, at least now he knows that while I may be an avid bike rider , I am no bike wisdom guru!