When we got home from church today, it was sunny and almost springlike, and I strongly considered packing up the trike and going to ride at Hudson Mills Park in Dexter, along the West River Trail into the village itself, as I did one time last June (a round trip of about 10 miles). But then I realized that today's temperature probably exceeded my self-imposed 40° threshold for doing more than one round trip to Marsh Park, and since the temperature is supposed to dip back down the next couple of days, I decided to take advantage of the 'warmth' and stay home to ride my familiar trail yet again.
So I ended up doing consecutive round trips to Marsh Park for the first time since December 23. Clouds moved in during the ride, and it was a challenge, but much more so mentally than physically—as I neared the turn-around point to start the second one, I had to really fight off the tendency to pack it in and tell myself than a 10-mile ride was good. And it would have been good, but I want to continue to grow and improve, so I'm glad I pushed myself to do that second one today. With the concluding loop in our complex, this gave me 18 miles, in a new record time (by about a minute) of 1:50:25. It was 41° when I started the ride, and 46° when I finished.
I find myself mildly dismayed to be at 'only' 158.4 miles over a month into the new year. But then, I remind myself of how fortunate I am to have been able to ride at all this winter, enjoying the mild conditions—and I remind myself, too, that it's 158.4 miles more than I had at this point in 2015!
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