On my ride today, I finally had that feeling of "getting in shape." Hills were easier, I rode faster with ease, and it was a heck of a lot of fun.

Now, I wouldn't want to compare or compete my brand of "in shape" with most of you guys and gals, but, as I generally compete with myself, I think I am winning - at least for someone 71.5.

Oh, and on the ride today, I saw a hawk in a tree just screeching away, then flying over me, then back to the tree, all the time screeching - more than I have ever heard before. Then I saw a larger hawk come circling around and they joined together and sailed off into the wind. I guess she was telling him to "get home" - we have honey dews aroiund here, or something like that.

So, any of you also got that "in shape" feeling?

Well, I did until the annual Spring sinus crud and bad weather set in. I had a good year going and was getting on toward the "in shape" feeling. It's been three weeks or so since I've ridden at all.

The weather is supposed to be good tomorrow. Allegedly, the sun will shine, and the winds will be only 10 to 15 mph. We'll do our best to get in an after-work ride.

Actually, I credit the more "in shape" feeling to riding a lot in the 20-30-40 mph winds we have been having around here the past couple of months.

That would tend to toughen one up!

With all the rain we've had this April, I won't have that feeling until sometime in May! ;-)

I've always called that feeling "getting my legs". Whatever you call it, it sure is a nice feeling.

I'm still looking for that "riding without the chain" feeling of being in shape. I know that this is related to losing 10 lbs. and honestly I'm not sure I can do it anymore.

Roads here have been clear of ice and snow about a month and a half. In that time I've ridden 350 miles. In those 350 miles I've resumed the same level of fitness as when roads became icy last autumn. In fact, maybe I'm a bit stronger. Yesterday had a 20 mph headwind on the return leg of my ride and was surprised to be able to maintain good speed. Mostly where I'm seeing the 'in shape/finding my legs' feeling is on what few hills are around. On shorter hills I can stand and blast right up. On longer hills I find it not so necessary to shift to bottom gears and still maintain surprising speed. My new found strength sure feels good.

I've signed up for a club century in September but will only do it if average speed is a bit higher and I'm able to ride, say, 75 miles by July.

Great post, DnvrFox. Yeah, I'm starting to have the same feeling and noticed it on the last ride. It was too late for a decent mileage ride so I headed off across our little town to a long and steep grade that usually would be "heartbreak hill" status on the first and only time up. I hit it hard twice and then finished with a 6mi spring out the other side of town.

Yeah, feels great.

Yes you can.

Same thought I have too. The winds seem to be my friend in this regard. But I think it is just putting in the miles since I picked up my new road bike back in March, 700+. Feeling great at 73.

Just getting that feeling now. Been a long, cold winter(In the south). You northerners should be laughing about right now.

Yep, been having the same feeling myself. After the winter months 10-12 mile rides leave me tired. Now this past week 15-18 mile rides aren't near long enough. Frankly, I'm crediting this quick turn around to some light weight work I've been doing. I've never done weights before but I'm starting to see strength and definition very quickly where I have never seen it before. My goal is 40 mile rides that are as much fun at the end as they are in the beginning.

I'm laughing and I have difficulty getting out if it's below 50. Thank god it's hot now, I do hot better than cold and some of my "mean" friends have been pushing our friendly rides 2 to 4 mph faster then we used to go and I'm feeling stronger recently. It's all good

I live in northern lower Michigan and the spring weather this year has cold. My bike will sit if it's under 50 and the sun isnt shining brightly. It's just not worth it.

It really does feel better even with all the lousy weather we've been getting. Between the weather and other time commitments, I've only managed to get in about 310 miles in the last month and over 100 of that was over this past week.

The avg HR is coming down, the peak HR is coming way down, hills are easier to climb, my cadence is coming back up to where I want it. Yeah, it feels much better.

It must show too.. The owner of my LBS is in his 60's. He's started off racing track bikes and he was showing me his latest ride.. A Colnago track bike with Zipp wheels (drool...).. After he finished bugging me about joining their Saturday/Sunday group ride ( I can't get up to meet them at 8am ... maybe later this year) he said "I've got just the bike for you" "But I just got the Roubaix a couple of months ago" "Oh, you'll like this one!"
and he rolls out an Argon 18 Krypton ... "And it's only $2400 !"

sigh.... not this year... uh .. maybe next season ?

With hawks, the larger of the two is the female. He was probably calling her for a different sort of honey-do... :-)

Some hawk species (like Harris hawks) do hunt as pairs, and that is the most lilely explanation.

I'm in shape, as long as round is still a shape.

About those hawks: last Fall I had a small red-tail draft me just off my right shoulder for about twenty seconds. Then, the road leveled out and she veered off. I wish I was stronger so I could have maintained enough speed to keep her with me longer.

Hmm!!

Interesting.

Thanks for the info.

You gotta bring the binocs,and the bird book on rides...
And Yea, the wind has been the s--ts this spring...
Bud

The ?male? was within 20 feet of me as ?he? flew over, and in the tree maybe 40-50 feet. Didn't need them this time, but not a bad suggestion! I have never learned how to effectively use a bird book. I look and look and, eventually they all look the same, sort of.

DF,

Getting close to that feeling, won't be but a few more weeks the way things are gong. My riding buddy and I start 10 minute intervals training this week, that's go hard reaching LT for 10 minutes, back off for 5 and repeat 3 times. Weight is down almost 6 of the 10 lbs I gained over the winter so I suspect in a few more weeks I'll feel down right peppy.

birding ID is something that takes practice, you need to do a rough ID(ie,Hawk,sparrow,etc.
Then it is the markings that you need to take note of,as in shape, /color of beak, color/marks of breast,any marks or color on sides,color /shape/markings of tail, sounds of call,Then go to the book and look at the pictures and read the discriptions,including the call,and determine what the bird is..as I said , it takes doing it for some time,to get better at it..especially the "rough" ID...

Thanks. I don't have a lot of patience for much of anything, so I think I will just point and say "bird" or, perhaps, "blue bird" (assuming it is blue) and leave it at that. Sounds like you really enjoy it.

I get this every year, since during the school year (I'm a teacher) I have a hard time finding time to ride regularly, but during summer I ride a lot! The way I gauge it is by noticing which gears I select for sections of my normal rides. There are only two roads out of the little town where I live, so if I ride from home I only have two choices - north or south. I tend to ride the same routes over and over on training rides. I've done the portions enough to be very familiar with which gears I use for certain sections. When I'm in shape I seldom use my granny. When I'm on my bike for the first time after a few months and feeling very weak I resort to the granny quite often. When I'm out of shape I get tired and want to rest. When I'm in shape I do the same ride without stopping, feel great, and feel like "that was easy."