Well, after my 6-mile warm-up and pit stop, I rode 10 miles in one hour and 12 minutes this morning, which sucks. And it was about a 90 percent effort on my part. Not encouraging. I think I should have waited another day. One day of recovery was not enough. Also, could it have been the wine I had yesterday evening. Anne and I split half a bottle of chardonnay, and I think I had more than half of the half we split. We were pouring it over ice and mixing it with club soda in the late-day sunlight on the back porch, and I think I had more than my share.
So I'm not going to put too much stock, or derive too much discouragement, from this performance. I'm going to take it easy for two days and ride the same course Tuesday -- or Wednesday.
Joe Friel, in The Cyclist Training Bible, says repeatedly that the single most common fault made by aspiring cyclists is riding too often, too hard. He emphasises in page after page that allowing enough time for recovery after a demanding ride is absolutely essential for improvement. He has coached scores of cyclists, he says, and whenever he finds one who refuses to allow enough time for recovery, he drops him. I accept this intellectually, but not emotionally. I wanted to ride today, but I should have known better. Especially since I am aware that one of the incontrovertible facts of aging is that it takes longer to recover.
So for the next couple of days, I'm taking it easy. (Drat!)
Some days you're the hammer, some days the nail. This is the same no matter the age of the rider. I've had days where my legs just felt like jelly. You just 'spin and grin' and just do a fun ride.
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