I had been off the bike since early January due to a pulled intercostal muscle which I hurt while taking down outdoor Christmas decorations. Good grief! It took more than 8 weeks to heal! My last permanent was in December.
I felt pretty good the whole way, but was done by the time I was finished. Long gone are the days when I would go out dancing after a 2 or 300.
But I finished strong and could ride the next day too. So that felt good.

What I remember the most from this ride, were the smells! Powerful smells!
Beautiful floral scents: lilacs, roses, wisteria and countless other flowers that I couldn't decipher, but were wonderful!
But when I wasn't smelling flowers, all I could smell was manure! And it was strong!!!
We had friends over for a porch visit a few days earlier and the first thing they said to us was:
   "How can you stand the smell?"
   "What smell?" we said.
   "You don't smell it?" they asked.
   "No"
   "The manure! It's so sharp! It's making our eyes water... I guess being a local, you don't smell it..."

Well today, even a local could smell it!

It was a really nice day! It got up to 25 degrees and I was overdressed.

And it was good to ride with cycling glasses and mirror and bike computer again. I had been without these 3 essential tools for a while.
No mechanicals, no flats.
It feels good to be back on the bike! And back into Permanents.

: )
K

       
Karen's cards are always interesting. Notice that on right edge of the cards she has marked down her
control times from her November and December rides on the same route, for comparison purposes. [EF]