First (real) ride of spring

Today was a beautiful day that almost makes one believe spring is here. Until one looks at the weather forecast for the week. So I'm not.

My coach organized a small group ride today, and although I still have a bit of a cough and sore throat, I made the executive decision to be finished with being sick, popped an Aleve to calm my throat, and joined the fun. We did 32 miles of a fairly mellow ride--definitely faster than I would have gone by myself, but the lady in charge was good about making sure we didn't drop anyone, so no one hammered for long. Although I have to say I have a bit of a problem with figuring out tempo, because a couple times I started to take a turn at the front, then realized I had dropped people without meaning to. I think I just overcompensate for thinking I'm slow, plus I can't really look backwards without totally losing my line, so I'll be cranking along and then finally manage to sneak a peek behind me on a curve, and lo and behold, I am, as my husband describes it, "being an a**hole." Note that this is only a problem for me on a mellow ride--when the riding gets more serious with these folks, I'm lucky to hang on. And I did spend well more than half the ride today coasting along on somebody's wheel, make no mistake.

Here is the rest of the group at the end of the ride:

Linda, in the middle, was very kind about the fact that apparently I blew my nose onto her. Maybe more than once. I need to work on my group riding etiquette for sure.

When I got home, Joker was enjoying the sunny spot on top of my stash of workout clothes.

This is the closest he gets to working out. And yes, I still keep my workout clothes in milk crates.