The first time out is always the worst. I'd been off the bike since November and got in very little xc-skiing this season (no snow) so I wound up gaining about 10 pounds. I had the bike on a trainer too but the time gods handed me the wrong cards this winter which means I had time to use it for a grand total of 4 sessions from December to the first week of March.

I started around mid-March and I've limited myself to 45 minutes to an hour for the first couple of weeks. Nothing too fast, averaging about 12-14 mph, working on getting my cadence up from low 70's to mid 90's and keeping the distance down to about 10 miles. Last week I ramped it up to 15 miles and then 27 miles on the weekend. The speed is slowly coming back. Looking at my split times from my last outing I managed to maintain 16.5 mph for almost 30 minutes which is a lot better than I thought.

I can't complain because when I look at my numbers from last year I'm about a month ahead right now and I'm in much better shape this year. The 1800 miles I logged in last year have paid off and I'd like to get in about 3000 this year, time permitting. Last year I set a goal of 2500 but I had other time commitments and my wife always likes to remind me that I'd been off a road bike bike for over 35 years and off a bike period for over 30.

I'm sure you won't have any problems coming back. It just takes patience and a little bit of persistence.