New isn't always better

This morning was a little cool, the afternoon was going to get warm, and the day was windy throughout, so I dressed in a few layers. This photo reminds me that I had a shirt similar to this one when I was in grade school and I was told by my friends then that my clothes always clashed. I guess I have never really cared too much about what I look like.

Can you see my cool arm warmers
under my top shirt's sleeves?

Matt and I met at the fort, and decided to skip the more heavily traveled routes in the city due to the nice weather. We rode up the river to the Coon Rapids Dam, and headed over to Elm Creek Park Reserve. Once we got there, we decided to try to find a new way home, so that we didn't take the same route back. It is a goal of mine to learn some new routes this year. I thought it might also end up being a good route for our team when I lead them on some training rides later in April and in May.

It was a good idea, and maybe it would have worked if we'd followed the path we'd originally decided on when we were standing at Elm Creek. Instead, it was a pretty "meh" ride through Maple Grove, Plymouth, Golden Valley, Crystal, and surely some other suburbs, passing through some construction zones, ignoring some "road closed signs," and appreciating the wide shoulder on Hwy 55.

So, all in all, this wasn't what I'd do again, but it still was a great ride - 68.5 miles and definitely the furthest I've gone since the fall. Despite being out of biking shape, I am really impressed with my body's muscle memory and the fact that it could handle just jumping back in as well as it did, especially with a decent headwind. I learned some other things, too. In addition to realizing that I really like my arm warmers and that I probably need new biking shoes this year, I also found out that the biking commuter pants I bought this winter aren't really good for this type of a ride in these conditions. 

I guess I'm on track for training for my summer bike rides, all of a sudden, which is good since there are a lot more moving parts to being team captain this year. 

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