Bicycle commuting, day 8

What a great day! I completed a round trip on my bike. I still need to improve my strength, but I'll get there. I'm not even feeling exhausted. My muscles feel as if they've really worked, but they are not sore.

Since no day seems to be complete without it, here is the minor mishap of the day: I was already on the trail at least a mile from my car when I realized I had forgotten my helmet! Oops! It was late, and I really didn't want to turn back. I was hypervigilant for the rest of the trip. As soon as I got downtown, I went straight to the bike shop that helped me out on Bike to Work day, and I bought another one. It was probably a good thing, too. It turns out that I was wearing my old one pretty loose because I had never really been taught how to adjust it. Now I know what to do.

I'm leaning toward having two sets of gear: one for commuting, and one for leisurely weekend rides, because I'm terrible at remembering stuff when I have to keep switching it from one bag to another. (My commuter panniers are just overkill for weekend rides).

I'm also putting some thought into developing a personal checklist that I can use on weekdays mornings, so I don't get stranded without a snack, a drink, a charged cell phone, a flat tire kit, and so on.

I also biked yesterday but I held back (30 miles, at a very leisurely pace), because I didn't want to be too tired for my weekday commute. I tried to go out Saturday as well, but I got an urgent "Come pick me up" call from my daughter after I had gone barely a mile. Oh well!