There are only two times during the bicycle riding season that I stop often to rest -- the first half and the second half.

When the sun starts to climb higher and the snows are melting in late March or early April, I take my first ride outside.  No riding on a stationary bike -- like a crew team rowing in a pool -- can fully prepare you for riding on the open road.  As much as I try to keep my legs in shape during ski season, during the first month or so riding I wear out quickly and take a number of pit stops to catch my breath.  My average speed up and down the long and often steep hills around Greenwich is embarassingly low.

By September I am in peak form and top speed.  My average goes up more than three miles an hour.  But then as October and November come along, the air cools, my asthmatic lungs constrict, and I am back to where I was in April.

Yesterday morning with the cool air in the 40s I had to stop and catch my breath after only 8 little miles at a point where mid summer I would just fly past.   Two cyclists came by, each asking if I was OK or needed help.  That is the Code of the Velominati.  Always make sure you brothers and sisters on the side of the road are OK.

I try to remember the Code and Rules of the Velominati.  Rule # 10: It never gets easier, you just get faster.   Up to a point.  Not so for me in the colder weather.  So I must keep in mind Rule #5, the most important of the Rules:  Harden The Fuck Up.

Le Vie Velominatus.  Rules to live by.