It was the best of times...

it was the worst of times.

I was supposed to have a rest day today, so I planned to take the boy out for a little ride. But he wasn't feeling it. He said, "I don't know why, but my body is telling me not to go."

A premonition? Who knows. John was supposed to ride, though, so I just said I'd go with him instead. However, I had to drop the boy off at the grandparents house, so John would ride there and I'd drive the kid and then meet John at - where else - Starbucks.

I left the house wearing a cycling skirt and tank top, light gloves, and my new warm-weather cycling shoes. It was 65 degrees and sunny - lucky me!

There are two ways to get to Starbucks from John's parents' house. 1) Straight and flat about one mile. 2) Up a mile and a half, detour for another mile and a half, make a u-turn, and then go down for three miles.

Guess which way I went!

The two hills were super fun. Neither was anything on the scale of what we did yesterday, but both felt serious yet achievable. And wow - the way down - especially on the u-turn part - was really fun! A definite reward for doing the work to get to the top.

So then I met John and we set out to ride around Lake Sammamish.

We got half way around the lake and realized it was getting late - we had told his parents we'd pick up the kids between 4:30 and 5, and it was already 4. So we decided to just turn around and go back the same way we came - it's slightly shorter and definitely faster.

Just then, it started to rain.

It didn't pour - this is Seattle, pouring isn't polite - but the rain came down in little needles. They pricked my bare arms, legs, and face. And suddenly, I was very, very cold. My toes went numb, water beaded up on my shoulders, and I was 10 miles from the car. Yuck.

John had had the foresight to wear a raincoat. I hadn't even brought along arm warmers! What am I, a newbie rider in the Seattle area? Who goes out without an extra layer in APRIL???

John asked me if I was okay. My head was full of garbage. I didn't need to ride, this isn't fun anymore, why is John faster than me uphill, why is John making me go 20 mph on flats, ow the rain hurts, where did my toes go, next time I'm listening to the boy when he says he has a feeling we shouldn't ride.

"Do you want to call my parents?" he asked. I had left our van key at their house in case they needed to move the van; there was a 7-11 store on the left where we could wait. We had like six miles left to go.

"No, I'll be fine," I said from between chattering teeth. There was no way I'd quit. The fact that he offered to let me out of riding, though, was the stimulus I needed to finish.

We rode hard the rest of the way back to his parents house - John is actually really strong when he focuses on riding. When he builds his endurance up, I have a feeling I'm in for a butt-kicking. And that will be a good thing.

But man! Hills are fun! The two I did alone today were a great encore to yesterday's ride. Now...what's in store for tomorrow? :-)