{"id":8432,"date":"2016-03-11T07:30:08","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T12:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/freelancechristianity\/?p=8432"},"modified":"2016-03-11T07:30:08","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T12:30:08","slug":"back-in-the-saddle-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/freelancechristianity\/back-in-the-saddle-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in the Saddle Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We in southern New England have been spared a tough winter. Shit can still happen, but this winter has been a breeze compared to last year\u2019s two-month cycle of weekly snow storms. A few mid-fifties temperature teases thrown in here and there in February have been a harbinger of an early spring\u2014furthermore, the groundhog didn\u2019t see his shadow.\"groundhog\"<\/a>Then two days ago, we broke a temperature record and hit 70 degrees. This is all good news for everyone, but especially for me. Because the arrival of early spring coincides with a signature event in my life\u2014I\u2019m back in the saddle again.<\/p>\n

I wrote frequently in summer and early fall last year about how one of the central features of my early sabbatical weeks was the rediscovery, after many years, of the joys of bicycling. I loaded tons of pictures, wrote blog posts, got in the best shape of my life, then disaster struck. I tipped over unceremoniously in a completely non-spectacular bike mishap and broke my ankle in early October\u2014less than a week before riding the seventy-mile round trip Woonsocket to Bristol trip that I had been building up to for three months (for those unfamiliar with Rhode Island geography, that\u2019s pretty much the top of the state to half way down and back).\"RI\"<\/a> It could have been worse\u2014I didn\u2019t need surgery or even a cast, only requiring a boot for ten weeks or so. But no more bike riding for at least three months, and by that time we would be in the dead of winter, so probably no more bike riding for six months.\"my<\/a><\/p>\n

This was more of a problem than just being laid up without exercise for a while. As wrote in a September blog post,<\/p>\n

Life at Ten Miles per Hour<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n