How to Look Fast
First I wanted to post two pics Troy took from this past Saturday. The pics are nice because they break up the normal textual assault. (Wow that's crazy how one word has 'ua' and the next has 'au')
Andrew and I:
Group:
Now to "How to Look Fast" ...
I've discovered a new way to seem fast. It's been kind of a trend lately and it has been really great in boosting my self esteem. I basically have been riding certain routes for time (meaning I push) that I haven't ridden in a very long time.
Perfect example is the El Moro Epic we did last year compared to the exact same ride this year. I think my improvement was something around 30-40 minutes. Nice. That makes it seem like I'm really fast when the actual difference is just a matter of a year's worth of work.
Same thing with Blackstar-Skyline. The last time was a few months ago and we took singletracks (when you were supposed to take the fire road) and got lost at the bottom. All those things add up to kind of a slow ride. Tuesday night I beat my previous time by over 40 minutes! Haha.
Once again this morning with Coto-West Ridge. Usually I ride this ride with someone else and the last few times I think I've taken my singlespeed. I went from 1:17 to 1:08 with some pushing. That's an average speed of 12.8mph and my average heart rate for the hour was 176bpm. That's right. The AVERAGE heart rate was 176. Haha.
All in all I'm happy that I'm setting new personal bests, but I take it with a grain of salt. I am finding that I can push a lot harder than I thought I could. My body has become pretty good at taking a beating and then recovering. The cramping issue is pretty much gone and I'm amazed at how hard I can push and how big of a gear I can stay in for certain rides. The key is to get used to suffering on the bike. That'll help take the times down even lower.
(As a sidenote I think my blog has been up for over a year now? Or close to it at least. Crazy.)
(Another sidenote. I'm 1 mile away from 2,400 miles for the year. Almost at my revised goal of 2,500 miles for the year. Hooray.)
Andrew and I:
Group:
Now to "How to Look Fast" ...
I've discovered a new way to seem fast. It's been kind of a trend lately and it has been really great in boosting my self esteem. I basically have been riding certain routes for time (meaning I push) that I haven't ridden in a very long time.
Perfect example is the El Moro Epic we did last year compared to the exact same ride this year. I think my improvement was something around 30-40 minutes. Nice. That makes it seem like I'm really fast when the actual difference is just a matter of a year's worth of work.
Same thing with Blackstar-Skyline. The last time was a few months ago and we took singletracks (when you were supposed to take the fire road) and got lost at the bottom. All those things add up to kind of a slow ride. Tuesday night I beat my previous time by over 40 minutes! Haha.
Once again this morning with Coto-West Ridge. Usually I ride this ride with someone else and the last few times I think I've taken my singlespeed. I went from 1:17 to 1:08 with some pushing. That's an average speed of 12.8mph and my average heart rate for the hour was 176bpm. That's right. The AVERAGE heart rate was 176. Haha.
All in all I'm happy that I'm setting new personal bests, but I take it with a grain of salt. I am finding that I can push a lot harder than I thought I could. My body has become pretty good at taking a beating and then recovering. The cramping issue is pretty much gone and I'm amazed at how hard I can push and how big of a gear I can stay in for certain rides. The key is to get used to suffering on the bike. That'll help take the times down even lower.
(As a sidenote I think my blog has been up for over a year now? Or close to it at least. Crazy.)
(Another sidenote. I'm 1 mile away from 2,400 miles for the year. Almost at my revised goal of 2,500 miles for the year. Hooray.)
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