I was born 'lucky', in some respects, in that my 230# is spread over a 6'6" frame. When I was 165# in high school, and then 185# in college, I thought being 200# would be obese. But now I think I'd be a scarecrow under 200. I think my perfect weight is about 215, and am trying to ease down to that by eating a bit better, building more muscle mass, and burning more calories. But if it ends up meaning I give up wine, well, then... never mind. :-) Some things come at too great a cost.

1 or 2 mph difference can be huge, huh? I feel like I can hold 18-19 'forever', but push it over 20 and it's hard to maintain. Maybe I need to become fonder of the drops?

Like many people, it took me awhile to grasp the idea of "spinning" your way to speed and strength. Especially being tall, I wanted to grind it out with longer cranks at a slower cadence. After getting a road bike, and a computer, I started working my 'on the flats' cadence up from what turns out to have been the low seventies. I developed an "80/20" mantra: keep the cadence over 80, and the speed over 20. I try to maintain that on my commute as conditions allow (not uphill, not against a headwind, and not while passing pedestrians). On the ride yesterday, that cadence proved to be too low if I was going to hang with the other two, and so I was sticking to lower gears than I do on my own, and cranking up closer to 90. Average cadence ended up in the high 70's. When they kept the pace at <=20, I could keep up fine, but would have worn out and dropped off eventually on the ~1% grade. 21-22 was a real struggle. Part of it is also being new to drafting. I was further behind the guy in front of me than he was behind the leader. I need to tighten it up.

My wife is the natural athlete in the family, and she loves proving that on the (pick any sport but basketball) court. Well, she can't hang with me on a bike either, thank goodness. I have to have bragging rights somewhere!