Perhaps more difficult than finishing the ride yesterday was getting on the bike this morning to do a short recovery ride.  It turns out that the body recovers from a hard ride much faster if you follow that hard day with a slow and easy ride.  It’s hard to convince yourself of that, though, when sitting on a bicycle seat for even five minutes seems like it’d be cruel and unusual punishment.  But the pros are right, and I felt a lot better after Debra and I went for our ride.

For the sake of completeness, here’s my mileage from this week. 

All told, I rode 1,170 miles on my bike since August 12.  It sounds like a lot, but it works out to only 10 hours per week.  I’m simply astonished at the results from that relatively small commitment.  I’m a much stronger rider, I’ve lost almost 15 pounds (and I wasn’t actually trying to lose any), I’m more alert, feel more alive, and am happier than I’ve been in quite some time.  10 hours a week sounds like a big time commitment, but I don’t even miss those hours I used to spend watching TV. or staying up late surfing the Web.  Mom and Dad were right:  you really can do anything you set your mind to.