Back In The Saddle Again!

So, today marks the first time that I've been on the bike since Ironman.  A whopping 22 days have gone by since I've done any kind of pedaling what so ever.  If you recall, from my race report, and a subsequent entry, my tri bike was experiencing some kind of drive train issues the last couple of miles of the race.  I still don't know what happened, or what is wrong, as that bike is still sitting on its rack in my garage.  In fact, I still haven't put my every day wheels back on yet!  That being said, today was the perfect opportunity to get back on my road bike.  This will be the first time that it's been of it's rack since our trip up Mt. Lemmon back in June (about 269 days ago!!!!!).

I planned on going for about a 2 hour out and back from my office.  I rolled at about 2:45PM.  The temp was around 68 or 69 degrees and the sun was shining, but there was quite a bit of wind.  Despite the wind, it was still a beautiful day to get in a ride.  Shortly after I set off, I realized that I forgot my CO2 adapter back in the car.  If I were to flat, I'd have my tire iron and 2 CO2 cartridges, but no way to get said CO2 into the tube.  Since I couldn't chance being stranded on the side of the road, I had to turn back to the car to the adapter.  Actually, I was pretty relieved that I had to turn back because I had been arguing with myself about how chilly it was and that I would really like some arm warmers.  My internal strife came about when I remembered this pic that David sent me earlier in the day from Minnesota:

He went on to say that, while the thermometer said 3 degrees, it was more like -10 degrees with the wind chill!  How could I be complaining that I'm a bit chilly when it was sunny and in the upper 60's here?  I wasn't going to be a wuss and put on arm warmers!!!  But the problem was.....it WAS chilly and they would feel mighty good.  This back and forth was going on in my mind as I was determined to press on without them.  Once back at the car however, I caved and put them on anyway.  I made the right choice.

The ride itself was fairly uneventful.  I carried no fluids or nutrition and  netted 31.25 miles in 1:36:26 (19.4 mph).  I noticed that my legs became fatigued right around mile 25, but other than that, it was a pretty solid first ride back!  I plan on going out again tomorrow as well.