Speed Vs. Crawl

Since I had been saving my legs for a long ride last Saturday and ended up not riding, my ride Sunday afternoon found me with fresh legs and an eager attitude to go fast. It was a pretty stout wind out of the South but as we all know it is usually blowing some direction this time of year. I went out 190 and up Y and then turned North on A and rode over to U. I was feeling good all the way there, of course I had the wind at my back for a lot of that ride. I turned South on U and headed for 190, this is where the fun began. Well, one persons fun is another persons kick in the crotch. The wind was steady, I prefer steady to gusty, and the long flat sections it was taking it's toll on me. I tried to ride steady without letting the lactic acid build too quickly, I told Molly that I rode the lactic acid bus that night. I decided I could ride more efficient if I was riding in my drops so I made the decision to do so.....but wait, I was already in my drops, Son of a Buck!!! Finally got to 190 and started heading back toward town. My legs were already feeling the burn from pushing hard and riding into the wind. I managed to get back home and complete the 35 mile ride with a 20.5 avg, I was really pleased with my efforts that day.

Yesterday I decided to get a longer ride in since it is too wet to ride trail. I didn't have time to get a real long ride so I did an out and back to Jamesport. The wind was out of the WNW and was pretty strong, most of the ride there was into the wind so my avg was suffering. I felt good but I was not riding fast at all. I went 190 to Y to W to F and into Jamesport. There is a long gradual climb on F and I got a visit from a very eager 4 legged friend. He was showing teeth as he approached, so I yelled at him and that slowed him a bit and then he came in again but this time he was biting at my shoe. I managed to keep my shoe out of his mouth while swerving away from him and he made another attempt in my direction. This time I reached for my bottle to give him a squirt, he must have been given a blast before because I didn't even get the bottle out of the cage before he started hauling a$$ back toward the house. I took 190 for the ride back to town, the first few miles South of Jamesport has cracks every 10-15 yards and they were a little hard on the bike. My speed picked up with the tailwind but still wasn't blazin' fast. My avg was only 18.1 for the 50 mile ride, not real fast but still good saddle time. On a side note, I could have used a little more Chamios Butt'r (just what you wanted to know isn't it? Try and get that image out of your head).