My first outdoor ride of the season

As most of you know, I'm currently living in Anchorage, Alaska. This is my 3rd spring here, and thus far I think the snow has stuck around the longest. Right now there's an entire winter's worth of accumulation outside. It's melting slowly with nice warm 40-degree days and 13+ hours of sunlight currently. Anyway, enough about the snow. Friday was a spectacularly beautiful 40 degree day without a cloud in the sky and negligible breezes. After finishing the school day, I escaped as quickly as possible to come home and get my bike.

When I say "my bike" I really mean my roommate's cousin's neighbor's bike that I'm borrowing. It's probably at least 20 years old and has a nice little shifting mechanism not anywhere near the handlebars. I imagine it was a nice road bike in it's day, but it's day is long past. But it's the only bike I have right now, so I figured it would have to do. In order to get ready for my ride, I had to dig into my gear that I have been slowly accumulating. Bike shorts, socks, shoes, sunglasses, gloves - all brand new. I figured that even if I was not going to be a good rider, at least I'd look the part. After getting into my biking costume I realized my tires were completely flat and the seat was too high and I couldn't find the tools to fix either. So after searching high and low for about 15 minutes, I went over to a neighbor's house to ask for help. He was thankfully home and got me sent on my way.

5 minutes later I was covered head to toe in mud and cold. The sunny day made me think it was warm, but when you start cycling in 40-degrees wearing shorts, you learn quickly that it's not as warm as you thought it was. As for the mud, the bike path I was on is the only one in town that is clear of ice and snow currently. It is not, however clear of water, gravel, and mud. I actually got along pretty well despite the coldness and wetness and ended up riding between 15 and 20 miles round trip. Not bad for a first time out.

All my beautifully new clean gear, however, headed straight for the washing machine when I got home. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be able to return any of it now, so I'm glad it all seemed to fit and work well. I didn't take my camera with me, but I'll try to get some photos of spring training soon. This photo was from the sunset later that evening. Thank you God for this beautiful place I live in!