Back in the saddle

Something in my soul has loosened, as though it's been given a half-turn counterclockwise with an allen wrench. Today is an auspicious occasion: my first day back on my bike! Yesterday, I oiled the chain and tightened the bolts and inflated the tires; today, I rode to work, and stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home, because I could, without stressing about bus schedules and distances and traffic. Freedom!

Alas, I am woefully out of shape. My legs were shaking when I got home, and my butt was too sore to sit, after a mere ten-mile ride. Gotta work on that, especially if I'm going to do my 40-mile Minuteman Bikeway + Lexington Loop day trip this spring.

Sorry I've been so quiet here lately. Nothing has been wrong, other than the clenched-teeth bunkering against the endless winter, but I'm been putting every free writing minute into The Slow Palace.¹ Other wordy things have suffered. Gotta work on that, too.

¹Even as I write this, I am stressing about tonight's writing schedule. I thought I was ahead of schedule, but now....