I got out yesterday, around noon, to get some riding in. Because I didn’t make it out much last week, I extended my route out a bit. Instead of making a little loop at the far end of the route, I made a big loop. This really didn’t add as much mileage as I thought it would, but it did add three damn fine hills to conquer. I tell you what, the hills on Prairie Star Parkway, Woodland Drive, that little neighborhood detour up to Pine St., 83rd St, Johnson Dr and the Renner/I35 flyover, and finally on southbound Renner around K10 are fantastic. Nothing like what I’ll be facing next July, but they’ll do for now.

I used to hate hills. I used to hate wind. I approached every ride as trying to get to the destination, and anything that prevented me from doing so was *bad*. Anymore, I approach every ride as a workout. The more hills and wind, the better. Anything that makes me work harder to cover the same distance is a good thing, be that external like winds or hills, or self-imposed, like moving down to a smaller cassette ring or up to a larger chainring.

The only part of the ride I’d change is my computer. Right when I turned it on, I got a “Low Battery” warning, and it was dead within two miles. I don’t know what happened… I thought it was fully charged and didn’t bother to check it before I left. Computer or not, however, the workout was great!