The First Ride

It was supposed to be a sunny day today.  And so it is, finally, with the sun trying valiantly to shine through a milky haze.  But I had determined that, barring icy conditions, I would take my first bicycle ride of 2011 today, whether the sun was shining or not.

So I got dressed in the warmest biking clothes that I have, pumped new air into the tires, refreshed my water bottle and found my helmet right next to HWMBO's.  The left-behind helmet bodes well for biking together in the Spring.  My trusty little Trek hybrid was ready - even eager - to begin its New Year, although, like its owner, it's getting a bit "long in the tooth."  We will mark our 20th year together this year.  It's been one of my more enduring relationships.

Lance Armstrong et al have nothing to fear but fear itself.  Having barely made the tour of my own little village and the next this morning, I doubt that the Tour de France will be on my itinerary this year.  But my surgeon had encouraged me to exercise the ankle and I was determined to give it a small workout on the bike.

There was just enough of a headwind that I was literally chilled to the bone.  That helped me to decide that today's ride would not be a long or strenuous one.  I managed about a six-k round-trip, with a couple of inclines so gentle that one didn't even realize that one was going uphill.  Those I like!  Most of the ride was on the flats, where I noticed a pile of fumier (manure) ready for spreading for Spring planting.  Trekkie posed with the fumier 

as well as with a totally disinterested Scottish Highland heifer.

I wonder just what the heifer found to browse on.  The pickings in that pasture looked pretty slim.

Turning towards home, I was happy to find that the temperature was much warmer because I wasn't heading straight into the headwind.  But a nice warm bath was still more than welcome.