Mother Nature has been gracing D.C. with some really beautiful weekends this winter, and this week was no exception. On Saturday temperatures climb into the mid-60's.

Every time the weather inches into the 50's or 60's I've been trying to get a good bike ride in. I'm a wimp when it's cold, but Saturday gave me the perfect opportunity to get in a nice solo ride.

As I spend more time on the bike, I get more and more comfortable riding in the D.C. traffic.

After about a mile dodging traffic, I got to Beach Drive -- a stretch of road trough Rock Creek Park that is really popular with runners, bikers and families out to enjoy the weather because on the weekends parts of the road are closed to traffic.

This makes it a pretty ideal spot for me to practice going faster on the bike.

And go faster I did!

My splits on the closed-off section of road held steady around 14.3 mph. Not speedy by any means, but definitely better than the 6 mph that I started out riding.

I did about nine miles and then on the way home decided that I was in the mood to run.

So I did a speedy transition in the my house, pulling off my helmet and slipping on my running shoes, then headed out the door for a two-mile run off.

Oh my goodness, my legs felt like jelly. It was such a strange feeling going from bike to run.

I felt like I was moving through molasses, but somehow I managed to keep an 8:40 average pace over those two miles.

And with that, my first brick is in the books!

Now I can only hope Mother Nature will continue to give us gorgeous spring-like weather on the weekends all winter long. Nicer days make it so much easier to bike and run!