Today, I joined the afternoon Salem Bicycle Club 25 mile ride. My goal was not to let my heart rate exceed 120 bpm. I was mostly successful – that is 92% of the time, but wind and hills do tend to make easy riding difficult.

I was hit by a DUII drive last year – on 3/14/2015.

I started riding and training again in May of 2015 with the intention of getting into shape to compete in the Race Across Oregon. That was not to be.

In late January of this year, I came down with a illness that was never diagnosed, but kept me off of the bike for two months.

But I am back on the bike now, and it feels great.

I have done four rides in the last week. The first was last Saturday, an 18 mile “let’s see if I still know how to ride a bike” ride. I choose a flat loop and rode my Colnago CT2, a ride I ride just for fun. I did will, but I was surprised just how tired the ride left me. Oh well, my fitness maybe gone, but I love working to get it back.

My next ride was the Salem Bicycle Club Wednesday Night Ride that my wife and I lead. Due to the illness and a class I was taking, it was not since December that I have been able to join my friends on this ride. While it does rain in March in Oregon, the sky was nice to me on my first ride back and there was no rain. Again, this is an easy paced ride so I had no issues but again the ride tired me out.

I should have taken a rest day on Thursday, but no, I joined the Scott’s Cycling group on Thursday. I did have some sense in that I choose to ride with the slowest group and I had lot’s of fun reconnecting with folks that I have not seen for months. Good times.

After three shorter rides, today I choose a flat 34 mile Salem Bicycle Club ride. My goals for this ride were to take it easy – no hard efforts. I am please to report that I was successful. My heart rate never exceeded 80% of max. This ride was nearly twice as long as my previous rides, and yes, I did suffer. But I was on the bike and suffering on the bike is the best kind of suffering there is.