Back in the saddle again...

Thanks to Aerosmith (lyrics) for the "return to duty" as I rode to work for the first time in two weeks. My sinus infection is all but gone, though my allergies still have a hint of irritability. Regardless, I feel ten times better than I did a week ago, and it's good to be back on two wheels.

But even just taking the long way home last night, I noticed that I was a bit out of shape. Between that and the cooling evening air, I made a good decision to make the ride a little shorter than I originally desired.

The ability to ride for longer periods of time takes conditioning. When I first started riding, half an hour or an hour seemed like a long ride... A trip from Daytona to St. Augustine and back seemed like a major ordeal. Since then, it's not uncommon for me to do twice that on a weekend.

Perhaps those all-night/all-day rides from San Antonio to Daytona a few years ago put things into perspective. Regardless, conditioning played a big role in how well I handled the stress of those rides. I could tell that I'm at a low point right now with just that ride home.

I do have a plan: I'm going to sell the XT (*sigh* - it's running great now) and make room in the garage for exercise. I'll dedicate about 45 minutes to an hour each morning (during the week) to exercise. We have a ton of videos (thanks to my wife), some free weights and an exercise mat. Plus, much of the garage is carpeted. (Are my bikes spoiled or what?)

So, I'm going to finish the antibiotics this week and start arranging the garage in such a way as to have some room to exercise. (And, no the living room won't work for us).