The ride Looking for a confidence boost after the previous week’s challenging ride, I picked a straightforward route. I went out on the Minuteman rail trail, rode a big loop (getting into the countryside a little bit), then came back the same way. The ride was uneventful, just as I had hoped. The usual thrill hit me when I reached the end of the Minuteman, rode out a couple of miles, took a left, and found myself on a foreign street.

The ride With my handlebar bag and jersey pockets crammed with sweetened vanilla cream cheese rice blocks, I headed out this morning. An hour into the ride, I couldn’t feel my fingers. I couldn’t tell my friction shifters apart from my down tube by touch. I couldn’t pull my water bottle out of its cage. It had been a balmy 44F in Cambridge when I started out. Down the road, my thermometer read 36F.

The ride Oh my goodness! Look at these cute buildings! That was my inner voice throughout the ride. Today I rode a 60-miler that took me South of Boston. The route disappointed me; I wanted to get up into Lexington and Concord. There’s great biking there, and I’ve enjoyed the area. Instead, I headed off towards Dover and ugh Dedham. The houses of West Newton proved the first challenge to that disappointment.