sara, i understand totally where you're coming from! honestly, most of the time i get super frustrated at myself. on a day-to-day basis I tend to lose site of the progress I have made since I've started riding. It's so easy to get sucked into 'well yesterday i could do this, and now today i can't' or 'i feel like i've been rididng the same speed for months' but it's really eye opening to go back and do something you did when you first started riding (like this ride, for me, because it was my first organized longer distance ride) and really see the changes that you lose sight of normally.

And Mimi, I haven't ever had the eye thing before, but if it happens again I will surely be getting it checked out! (and we weren't at high alt, haha, I live in PA!)

K.