The less part writes faster, so I’ll dispose of riding in a fell swoop: I managed to get out for an hour last Sunday and felt encouraged, then I rode easily in the gym on Monday and Tuesday for 50 and 75 minutes, respectively and felt OK, happy that I was turning my legs. I was all optimistic about launching a consecutive day riding streak, but work got in the way and the streak ended at just three. Will try to launch another this weekend; we are having a glorious winter for cycling and my health hasn’t allowed me to take advantage of it.
I finished both Catherine and Rough Ride. I loved Catherine the book and mostly liked her as a person, though I absolutely hated what she had done to Poland. Rough Ride was almost disappointing in the tameness with which it describes doping in cycling. I suppose we are so jaded by recent revelations of drug-taking in the sport.
In contemplation of a summer trip to France, I picked up Stanley Karnow’s Paris in the Fifties. I haven’t started reading it and wonder what it will do to my fanciful romanticized impression of France 60 years ago.