I am incredibly grateful to be back on my bike.  I have ridden outside 3 days in a row, and every ride has been so enjoyable.  I put no pressure on myself to go faster or harder, I just enjoyed being on my bike again, the scenery, even the other riders who wanted to draft off of me (but I did push myself a little bit to ride one of them off my wheel – what can I say, I’m still competitive).  I’m even grateful for the pain I feel from using muscles that haven’t been used for a while.

I was able to climb a little bit today – a couple of short climbs that maxed out at 6.5% – and it allowed me to get me heart rate up.  I felt silly breathing so hard on a climb that used to be just a warmup, but I stilled smiled because I wasn’t in bed or on a couch trying to recover.  I rode for an hour on Friday, (about 12 miles), 2 hours on Saturday (30 miles) and another hour today (12 miles again).  But with each ride I gain more confidence and more strength, and I’m grateful for every new pain I feel and every gasp for air I endure on the bike.

There’s a lot of very smart people out there who believe the key to success, happiness, etc. is having an attitude of gratitude.  I think they just might be on to something!  🙂