Night riding is fun!

I woke up this morning with a bit of a scratchy throat, so I stayed home from work and slept until an unbelievable 3pm. I felt much better once I woke up but I've been very discouraged with myself lately as I seem to be having a hard time getting back to a gym and biking routine. Marcus suggested I ride the south lake loop, so I decided to throw the lights on my bike and head out.

I took off around 5pm and went clockwise around the lake. This is the first ride I've done at night and it was super fun, though a little scary in places. The I-90 trail is filled with people walking in dark clothes with no reflective tape, so they can give you quite a scare when you come around a corner. Somewhere around Mercer Island I saw this little faint twinkling light on the ground near the side of the trail. I slowed down as I was trying to figure out what the hell it was. Let's just say I ended up with way too close of an encounter with a dog AND his tennis ball. Who walks their dog unleashed on the I-90 bike trail at night? Bad idea!!

The ride pulled me out of a bit of a funk and I'm glad I headed out. It's clear I've lost some fitness though. At one point I thought I was hauling ass down Rainier Ave and I was going 17. Sad!!! The Giant does take quite a bit more work to move, but that's still pretty slow for me. I think I'll start doing some rides at night more often, but only with a better headlight. I also need to start biking to work again. I tend to get demotivated in the winter and exercise helps immensely but I never feel motivated to exercise, hence the vicious circle.

Tomorrow night I'll be performance testing at CycleU again and getting our team training plan started. I'm stoked!