The first seven days...

I figured I better document this before my short term memory overloads and I cannot separate one day from the other.

Here's the short synopsis:

Day 1 / January 7th: Sadly, the first day on the bike is 45 minutes on the lame stationary bikes at Planet Fitness. Thank you "This American Life" for the engaging material about "The Thought That Counts", episode #514. Hilarious.

Day 2 / January 8th. Even more sad, the second day on the bike is another day at Planet Fitness. I caught up on the week's news with Tom Ashbrook / On Point. His commentary buddy, Jack Beatty, is unapologetically liberal, IMHO. Although I share his views, I think he needs to move to the center.

Day 3 / January 9. The first day of biking outside! I mounted my 10+ year old Nokian 296 studded tires on my single speed mountain bike and headed out into the woods. The paths were completed covered in large expanses of frozen, bumpy, super slick footprints. It was far safer to ride than walk. Riding on slick ice is always lots of fun - it is a 45 minute two wheel drifting hoot-fest.

Day 4 / January 10. I open my mouth and post to the Rippers email list that anyone who wants to join me for a mountain bike ride on dark, slick ice can meet me at Long Pond at 6:30AM. JD Hale takes me up on the offer. We have a great time sliding around together in the dark on the ice. He showed me some challenging trails (at least through the snow and ice) and we had a blast.

Day 5 / January 11. Meh. Third day of the stationary bike at Planet Fitness. For $10 / month, I really shouldn't be complaining. Fortunately, Ira Glass saves the day again with the "Good Guys" episode. Excellent radio. I bump the level up on the stationary bike from 9 to 10. Woo hoo!

Day 6 / January 12. I head out for a hike with Katie and Anita into the woods. Almost all the ice I rode over on the 3rd through the Medford side of the woods is gone! The trails are a mushy mess, but at least I didn't worry about hitting my head from slipping on the ice sheets. The huge mound of snow  at the entrance to the Fells near my house that was so fun to go up and over is now but a pathetic dirty mound of slush.

Day 7 / January 13. It is just a week and a day short of four months since I was on my last road ride, the Ripper 5 Notch. That ride was long and hard and ended up being 90+ miles with around 8000 feet of climbing. Today's jaunt was a short 45 minute tour of Winchester and Woburn and was under 10 miles and had only 470 feet in elevation gain. Amazingly, I actually scored 2nd and 3rd place PRs on a couple of Strava segments. Who knew? It must be because I never ride those segments!