This won't sound like much to the rest of you, but I took my first ride yesterday in over two months. My absence from riding wasn't due to snow on the ground though. Mine was from having foot surgery. When your life changes to where a major expedition to plan for is to get down the hallway to pee...you don't think about riding. But as the foot has healed...but not enough...I can see the sun outside and have only been able to dream about being on two wheels. Yesterday, I decided to see if I'd screw up my foot, drop the bike or have a good ride.
FWIW, my doc hasn't given me permission to wear anything other than the velcro "laced" one-size fits all boot.
The college my wife works at, has a culinary arts program. Each spring, they put together "meal kits" for the staff to buy. They sell out quick because you're getting some fantastic food from students who are on their way to being chefs in restaurants. So that was my excuse...to get out and pick it up on the XR.
It went surprisingly well. Down-shifting was pretty easy. Up-shifting was a little harder. I've been walking around with a limp for two reasons. First, because the doc said if I walk on the foot (with that funky boot on), don't roll my foot from heel to toe but keep it flat to allow the bones and tendons to heal. And second, with two months of not using the foot properly, I'm having to teach myself to walk again. Well, things have gotten stiff through these months and down-shifting was like stretching muscles when you're warming up to exercise. It's a little bit of a stretch...but not painful.
And later in the evening, I rode the XR to my Life Group at church. Again, all went well. So two rides on the day when I got back on the seat again.
Oh...and just to prove I did it...because without pictures, it didn't happen...here's the bike in the parking lot at the college.
Chris