take it easy (Saturday)

I am so tired that we decide to drive home after watching the women's superpipe finals live on the side of the mountain.

Still, it is so warm out. I must do something.

I tell myself that I will go out for an easy 35 minutes, no big. I pump up the tires and climb astride my bike for the first time since when--November? It feels like it's always been winter. It feels hard to remember those days riding my bike in shorts. Today I am wearing skintight blue yoga tights, wool socks pulled up over my calves, an undershirt, a long-sleeved thermal, and a golden fanny pack. Within five minutes I'm having the time of my life. I take the biggest hill--20 long minutes of straining quads so I can spend three minutes flying down. Then downtown, then away from it, around the perimeter of the next town over, ducking onto the golf course paths that I skied not four weeks ago, up and down over the rollers until I hit another big hill and this one, seeing as it is lined with trees, is still covered in snow. I dismount and hoist the bike over my shoulder, carry it up to the top of the hill, climb astride again and fly down. I hit a few more snowy patches but they're passable so long as I go slow and use my abs to keep the bike from shooting out from under me when slush gives way beneath the tires. I pass neighbors and friends and so many happy dogs. I shoot up into my neighborhood an hour later calling hellos over my shoulder. I skid to a stop outside the apartment, panting. Above me a flock of birds glides like jazz.