Week 38 - Day One: Blisters

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 25 min.
TIME BACK: 26 min.
WEATHER: clear, 15C, 11 km/hr tailwinds there; a few clouds, 26C, 9 km/hr crosswinds back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, tank top, zip-up hoodie (hoodie in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:

Oh, Mondays. Back to work, the daily grind, waking up to the sound of the alarm and never really getting as much sleep as I really need. It helps to wake up and know that I'll have a nice bike ride into work, especially with the weather as nice as it's been lately: by the time I mounted up this morning, the temperature was already in the mid-teens and there was hardly any hint of wind. It helps to feel the sun on my skin and get my body working first thing in the morning. It helps me to shake off the residual laziness of the weekend.

Actually, I wasn't lazy this weekend - not at all. I ended up doing at least a couple hours of yard work each day, trying to work around my daughter as she played on her new slide in the backyard ("Mommy, watch, mommy, watch, watch, mooooommmy - SLIDE!"). I was weeding and planting and digging and hauling, mowing and watering and playing with my daughter in the sprinkler - at least until she realized she was wet and cold and started crying. It was nice to stay active over the weekend while at the same time being able to rest my thighs - those large and ever-growing muscles in my legs that get so tired by the end of a biking week. It means that I was able to continue burning calories over the weekend, then get back on my bike this morning without my legs protesting. It was pretty nice.

The downside to all that gardening is the blisters. I have blisters on each thumb that are perfectly aligned so that they have full contact with the grips on my handlebars and end up stinging for the whole ride. Awesome. I tried repositioning my hand in different ways, but nothing allowed me a comfortable amount of control without the damn blisters getting in the way. Ahh, well, I've fallen off the bike and had to get back on to complete the ride, even when an entire side of my body was bruised - I'm sure I can handle a little blister or two.