March is off to a good start.

I know it's not really Spring yet. I keep trying to tell myself that we're not there yet. Remind myself that there's still a better chance for snowy days than days in the 70s. But the past few days have been trying to throw all of that realism by the wayside.

Sure it was 30° when I went for my lunch ride on Wednesday. But it was 55° on Thursday. And Friday it was 62° by the time I went out at lunch. It was supposed to have rained Friday night and keep going through Saturday morning, but when I woke up at 8:30, the sun was out and the radar map looked clear of rain. And it was already 65°. At 8:30! Heather had no plans on getting out of bed that early, so I got ready, got on the bike, and headed out.

The ride was great. I went 31.5 miles in a little over an hour and forty-five minutes. The best part was that my knee didn't give me any trouble the whole time. The last thirteen or fourteen miles were a lot more uphill than downhill, but still no problems. I'm going to take that as a sign that maybe the tendonitis is starting to get better.

I'll stick with physical therapy for the next four or five weeks, until I have my second follow-up with the sports medicine doctor. I'm hoping that by the time I go back to see him I can say that fifty and sixty mile rides aren't giving me any trouble and that everything is great again. I hope that's the case.

I'd really love to go for another nice long ride today, just to see how things feel on back-to-back days, but it's raining, and it looks like it's supposed to keep raining for the rest of the day. At the very least I'll spend some time on the trainer, although that's a lot less exciting than being outside with everything flying past.

The mountain bike got its inaugural mud-bath last Sunday. My friend Chris and I went over to Frick and the trails were muddy as all get out, thanks to snowmelt and ground thaw. It took me awhile to get used to the fact that the bike was made to be able to handle trails and roots and mud and all that junk.

I also had a hard time looking down some of the descents and coming to grips with the idea that I was supposed to sit on the bike and ride down those things. But it was really fun, really muddy, and I need to try to get out there again soon. Oh, and I didn't kill myself either.

Maybe next time the trails will have soaked up/distributed some of the moisture and my car won't be as insanely dirty on the inside when I throw the bike back in there.