Reasonably good indicators on both fronts: returning health, and returning spring. Biking keeps me attuned to both conditions–my physical well-being and the turning of the seasons–in ways that driving could never provide.

Health: My uphill ride home is a real indicator of whether I’ve shaken off whatever crud has attacked.

Not good: I sound like someone you’d want beginning nurses and doctors to listen to with a stethoscope for the definition of the word “rales” because I’m still crackling like a bowl of Rice Krispies.

Not good: Still a most unladylike amount of nasal fluids being produced.

Good: On the last couple of climbs toward home I’m no longer in first gear–I’m in third. Woohoo! These are hills that I usually do in the middle ring of my front derailleur, not the little ring, so I still have a way to go, but this is progress.

Spring: Like fall, it’s another shoulder season when I start playing “musical layers”–take off one, take off another one, decide I need that one for a few more days after all….

I also play musical gloves: lobster-claws in the morning, five-fingered in the afternoon because my hands would sweat in the lobsters.

Right now I need to be dressed more warmly for the ride to work because I create more speed and thus more windchill factor going downhill, it’s colder in the morning, and I don’t have the warmth of working to go uphill. In full summer it’s the same morning and afternoon.

Today’s outfit:

• Black cotton/Lycra leggings
• Lightweight Helle Hansen long johns–not the thick Hot Chilis I was wearing a few weeks ago
• Wool socks
• Tall gray boots (a souvenir of my trip to New York City with Second Daughter)
• Camisole
• Microweight cream-colored long-sleeved wool tee from Swrve
• Gray cable-knit hoodie sweater from REI
• Cute scarf
• Morning: Windbreaker, lobster-claw gloves
• Afternoon: Stopped halfway home to take off the windbreaker; five-finger gloves
• Long gone: The face mask I was wearing to block windchill and warm my breath; a cap under the helmet; fleece neckwarmer; another layer of wool stockings under the long johns and leggings

Biggest indicators of all that we’re turning toward spring: blue skies, fat, puffy clouds instead of gray overcast dullness, birds chirping, and the sunlight on the road as I headed home around 3:30 (can’t quite hack a whole day yet).

I can’t wait for full spring and full health. Meanwhile, the bike helps me feel more optimistic about both coming back soon!

Ride Report

• Days ridden: 27/54 (goal is 250 days this year–travel and illness are hurting my percentages right now but I’ll get back on track)
• Miles: 203.5 (goal for 2012 is 1,200)

Related Reading

• Keep Your Weather Eye Open
• Shoulder Season: The Blogspedition Stays Toasty
• A Weak Week: Coming Back from the Flu
• It’s Snot Pretty
• Pretty Handy, Gloves. The Blogspedition Assumes You’ll Get ‘Em.

Your Turn

• Did you ride today?