NOS88

AAARRGGGHHHHH! OK, now that I've got that out of my system, I'll see if I can compose myself enough to find words.

This afternoon I rode my weekly 11 mile time trial course. I was so pleased that today I achieved my personal best with an average speed of 20.6 mph. I know that for many of you this is not that big a deal, but for me it's an accomplishment that has eluded me for the past year.

Full of satisfaction, dripping with sweat, and eager to find someone to share this with, I dash through the back door, find my wife and say, "Guess what? I just did my personal best on my time trial today!" My lovely bride did not share my joy. Rather, I'm rebuffed with the comment, "You sound just like your father." Now I know that she's not referring to the many admirable qualities he has. No, she is referring to one of his less commendable traits, that of sometimes being loud as a way to gain attention and seek personal affirmation that he is indeed a creature with which one must reckon.

Well, it matters not if her comment was intentional. The effect was as if it were. The air that was filling my sails, suddendly was gone. Damn, I hate the fact that she is probably right on most occassions. I can be like my father. Afterall we carry the same genetic stock. But not today. It was a genuine thrill to reach this personal best. Why do the ghosts of our parents come back to haunt us?

Little Darwin

Congratulations on your accomplishment!

Whether or not you have bad faults in common with someone, don't let it destroy the joy of your accomplishment.

Blackberry

Congrats on your fine ride. If we hit the road together you'd drop me like an ugly date or as someone in another thread wrote, "like a hot rock in a hot rock dropping contest."

More to the point, as Shakespeare said centuries ago, "The course of true love never did run smooth." Seems pretty universal from what I can gather.

jwbnyc

It is quite obvious that you are *indeed* the Man and have every reason to be loud and proud.

roccobike

Way to go. Setting a personal best is sooooo fulfilling. Enjoy the moment, it's yours.

maxmerlin

Time trialing is intense and, if you're doing it right, downright unpleasant. It takes discipline, and to set a personal best is indeed an accomplishment to be proud of. Great job.

Consider trying workouts of 3 minutes at 22-23 mph followed by 5 min. of recovery after a thorough warm-up. Do 3-4 of them or until you can no longer hold speed for the entire 3 min. Then ride home easily. Do this 2 times a week, say Tuesday and Thursday with easy recovery days in between. Do your 11 mi. TT on Sunday. As you get even stronger, do 5 min. "on" with 3 min. recovery periods.

The idea is to do short distances at higher than race pace to stress your body, allowing for just partial recovery between efforts. Easy days between intense workouts are very important as that's when the bodys' adaptation to the stress takes place. Ride with very little effort on recovery days, focusing on a nice smooth spin of 90-100 rpm.

If you stay with it you'll see your PB times come down and ave. speeds go up. Good luck.

nmichell

Great ride. It's pretty difficult, though, for non-bikers to show much appeciation for your biking successes. I've got a little 14 mile loop that I ride regularly, and I managed to break 18mph for the 1st time last weekend. My wife is pretty supportive of my cycling, but that particular statistic just wouldn't have registered with her. Now if I've got results showing that my blood pressure and cholesterol are going down, she very happy to hear that

NOS88

Yeah, my wife would be more appreciative of this too. I guess it's important to keep things in perspective. Sometimes my helmet staps are too tight and I get a distorted view that cycling is everything.

Blackberry

Great. I've got seven bikes, and now ya tell me.

jppe

Terrific job NOS!!! Individual Time Trialing is indeed the Race of Truth!! Very, very good job of having a "target" that you're working towards and surpassing it. Enjoy and relish in the achievement!!! You deserve the recognition from setting a target and working diligently on it.

I would agree wholeheartedly about the genetic thing. I much better understand my Dad today than I did 20 years ago. I just look at my kids, and particularly my son who has many of the same personality traits and just shake my head.....

cyclintom

My father had a LOT of less than admirable traits but I wouldn't mind being compared to him in any case because I loved him nonetheless.

20.6 mph is FAST. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I've managed one 50 mile ride at an average of 21 mph and while true that a good portion of it was downwind, the first portion climbed over three good rises on Highway 1. I admit that there was the inducement of a beer and pizza at the end of the ride but let's not discuss that.....

mollusk

Great job on the ride! My wife also is tired of hearing about my rides. She'd rather hear me talk about painting the dining room and mowing the lawn.

NOS88

You know I was in Philadelphia this past Sunday and watched the pros race the 156 mile Commerce Bank Triple Crown, and the average speed was 29.76 MPH, and they had to climb the 17% grade "wall" in Manayunk 10 times. I'm not so sure that 20.6 MPH on a flat course is all that fast. I mean these guys climb that fast. But, I'm not a pro, never was, and must be content with being a mere mortal.