It is the biking season. I do not listen to music when I bike, (I have a fear of death) so I often compose blog entries in my mind on my way hither and yon. So if you start to notice a glut of biking-related posts, that would be why.

This early in the season, while it is still quite nipply outdoors, there's not too many people out on the roads yet. So most of the people that are out are SERIOUS. They have the gear, they have the apparel, they have the speed to leave my ass in the dust.

I would describe my pace in these early days as "steady wins the race". I exert enough energy to make sure I won't exhaust myself before I can reach my destination. Depending on the current level of my aches and/or pains I may or may not give that extra push to try and make the light before it changes.

However, my pace is not determined only by my stamina. There are other factors at play. As I mentioned, there are not too many people out on the roads yet and the high majority of these are male. The few females I see are obviously regular, perhaps even all-weather bikers, and this results in a certain physique. An area of the body I shall delicately refer to as "bikers legs".

Now all bikers, male or female, will develop larger muscles in their lower half. In the case of men, take Lance Armstrong as a famous example, their legs often are long and sinewy and rock hard. The ladies however, oh the ladies, those same muscles seem develop outward. Expanding the circumference of both thigh and calf.

I have a deathly fear of "bikers legs" .(almost as much as I fear death- but not quite as much) So I am constantly trying to keep a balance between working hard enough to burn calories but not working so hard that I end up looking like a giant, mobile pear.

It is a struggle.