The first bike ride of the season.

Chicago.

Whoah. Nice weather this past weekend, to the point where the temptation to get the bike out was too much. Warm (relatively), sunny, and all-around pleasant. Valuable lesson: one cannot go for a bike ride in the spring and expect it to be like last fall. I'm out of shape, but at least now's a good time to start correcting that. Did last spring's rides make me feel like this?

The other critical lesson to be learned from this, I think, is that I should continue my riding beyond my normal comfort zone of temperature and daylight. Ice, snow and heavy rain are still perfectly good reasons to stay inside and do the crossword puzzle, as far as I'm concerned. I'm in this for my health, so avoiding dangerous riding situations seems right in line. I've got a headlight - and I generally ride on very low-traffic roads - and know the routes well at this point. And I've ridden after dark, so it's really not much of a stretch to think I can make a go of it before the sun's quite up.

And avoiding a workout because I haven't gotten around to picking up some long johns, well, that's just me being lazy. No other excuses.

These, of course, aren't immediate concerns. With the days growing longer and warmer, I won't be worried about cold and dark until October hits. Getting out before the bugs and humidity get unbearable, though, will be much more pressing.

Especially this year. Winter in Wisconsin never really arrived. The only two seriously cold days came immediately after several inches of snow, so the ground's never gotten terribly cold. My fear is that we haven't had sufficient cold to kill off the insect larvae, so it'll be a very buggy year. Bad news for the garden, and for just being outside. Not that that's a good enough reason to stay inside. Rather, it's a perfect reason for grilling.

Bugs don't like smoke. And a beer or two means I'll care about the mosquitos just that much less.