www.johnthemap.co.uk/pages/goa/goamap.html

This is my stomping ground. I do between 10 and 25 miles a day, dodging cows, buffalo, sheep, pigs, chickens, women carrying loads of hay on their head that are so much bigger than the woman it would seem to defy the laws of physics, busses that run me off the road, etc. over roads that are potholed and bumpy but who cares cause the scenery is great.

Today I did about 5 miles. It was a struggle. Its been getting hotter... but still, today was pathetic. I slept okay last night. I ate about 45 minutes before riding, cause I had a mediocre breakfast. Oh yeah, you can't ride in the mid-day heat, so its either morning or night... otherwise its 100F+. Which I don't enjoy. Its about 85F when I go out to ride at about 4-5pm.

Three days ago I did a 25 mile round trip ride down to the tip of Mobor from Benaulim. I loved it all the way. Getting back was a snap. It took about an hour and a half travel time. Something like that. I swam and relaxed at mobor, so I dunno exactly.

Anyway, the point of the thread is... my performance seems to vary HUGELY. One day I can go 20 miles and I'm loving it. I've never cycled for distance daily. Usually in Atlanta it was just to get where I was going. Here its for distance. And the distance I can go, and the amount of work that involves is so unpredictable that its frustrating.

Is this normal?

I'm trying to get base miles in. I didn't do any cycling for about two months before coming to Goa, because I was doing construction constantly to pay for moving here. My goal is to bicycle the 400km or so from Manali to Lei in August. So I need to be training hard... but sometimes it seems like its not helping. Does this happen to you guys?

How long after a hard ride do you need to recover to full capacity? After I ride hard, I do a shorter easier ride the next day to recover... but I don't seem to be progressing like I should.

Any thoughts are appreciated.