Thank you for all the warm words, everyone!

About riding at night: early evening directly conflicts with our dinner, so I don't tend to do it much. But my husband was riding around midnight or 1:00 the other day and it was still 95, so I'm not sure how tolerable it's going to be later in the day, anyway. Although there's something to be said for not having the sun beating down on you from directly overhead.

About riding early: normally I go out around 6 am. That's about as early as I can manage to get myself up and still be functional as long and when I need to be for the rest of the day. The sun is coming up at 5:30 right now, so it's already heating up, but tolerable by then. During a week I usually only ride about an hour or a little more because that's just all the time I can dedicate on a work day. And it's fine for that.

Today I allowed myself to sleep because I was feeling *very* sluggish last night and felt I needed it, so I got a bit of a late start (I wasn't even sure I was going to go), leaving the house around 7:15. I probably wouldn't have tried a longer ride starting that late this time of year, but I'm not going to be able to ride for the next 3 weekends, so I didn't want to pass up the opportunity.

I do put an electrolyte powder in my water (forgot to mention this); I didn't do this starting out, but it seems to help a lot. I don't have a jersey or wicking tee, but it's on the (ever growing) list.