Empowering, indeed, Hoosiergiant. The whole first mile I kept saying over and over again, "This feels awesome. I am awesome!" I have to say, there aren't a whole lot of things in my life that make me feel as good as I do when I'm taking off on a long ride.

Surgtech, it was chilly for me, being a San Diego Weather Weenie. It was misty, drizzly and in the low 60s, I think, maybe high 50s when I set out. (Nowhere near the very cold commutes some of you ladies do.)

My last lap the drizzle had stopped and it was getting warmer, but the sun never did come out. I wasn't wearing any kind of special bike gear jacket, just a yellow windbreaker from Target. It had a skunk-stripe of mud spatter up the back when I took it off at the end of the ride. I hope it washes out.

I realized this morning, too, that as I was unpacking my bike from the Rav, I felt a headache coming on, so I popped 400mg of Ibuprofen. I'm betting that's what helped me get through the ride with almost no knee pain. That and the cold air.

D*H and I just did a tune up and fixed the flat and he showed me how to adjust my brakes. We found the puncture in the tube - a tiny pinhole - but couldn't find any damage on the tire itself. I hope whatever it was is no longer an issue. I watched him change the back tire, so I could probably do it by myself if I have to in the future. It's a heavy bike to have to carry back to base camp.

Roxy