My first ride today since October, after about 4 years of riding daily. I had a short-term goal of paying off my credit cards for the first time in 20 years, and to further that goal, I drove daily and so got in an extra hour of overtime per day. Now that the cards are nearly paid off (I have enough overtime coming in the next paycheck to do it), I'm back on the bike.

There's no way I'll be able to go directly back to riding daily though. For one thing, I've decided that trying to do it is just silly; I have ridden through some truly miserable sloppy snowy slushy or rutted ice conditions, and I'm just going to drive in that stuff in the future.

For another, man, did I get out of shape in 3 months. In the summer my commute is about 42 minutes. In the winter, typically 48 to 52. This morning it was 58, for no good reason; no headwind or significant snow, I was just riding in a low gear most of the way, and feeling it.

It was 3*F (-16C) this morning. Not really a problem, thankfully I still remember how to dress for it.

During the time away my blood pressure went up enough to require me to start taking medication at a low dose. Within the last week, it was looking like I was going to have to increase the dosage. I'm hoping that getting back on the bike will reverse the trend a bit and keep me on the low dose. Some medication is inevitable, I was borderline before even after years of daily riding and my family history indicates medicine at some point.