After six days of the bike, I finally got out for my first ride in March - a nice 20 mile ride along the Han River.

Six days off the bike was soooo hard for me.

Six days off -- it was just what I needed.

It was sooo wonderful to be back on my road bike again. My muscles were pretty healed up, and so the riding was back to being wonderful - not a chore.

I 'dialed it back' a little, and spent the most of the ride just enjoying myself and the pure joy of being back on my bike (I do sooo love riding - especially when the weather is so nice). OK, there were a couple of spots where I pushed myself a little, but when the wind is at my back - it's so hard NOT to go fast. But, for the most part I was pretty happy with the way I was able to maintain a steady pace - I still shaved 23 minutes off of my last loop (87 minutes vs 110 minutes - my average time for this20 mile loop when I'm not pushing myself is about 85-90 minutes).

I was a little sore when I finished, so I tried to do something that I should probably do after every ride (especially at my age). I spent about 10 minutes stretching after I finished - something I rarely do after a ride - and it sure helped, so I'll be doing this after every ride.

My gluts have recovered, but my thighs are still a little sore, so I'm taking a day off before getting back out again tommorrow. The nice thing is that the days are getting warmer and longer, so I can be a little more picky about when I ride and when I don't.

But the streak is still intact - 23 months with at least 3 rides or more in the month. Most months this is easy to do - but it certainly can be challenging in December, January, and February. But March is here, and the weather certainly is getting much better. Time for some more rides.

Onward!