I have been riding since April last year (April 23, 4.5 miles; April 24, out of action due to sore taint). Rode about 2K miles around my traveling and crazy work schedule, did several metrics and a full century. But I could only ride just so fast, because my legs would blow up and I would have to stop and coast and rest. While I was usually unceremoniously dropped.

Well, today we did the lunch loop. 18.9 miles, with the first 7 or so hills, the remainder flat. We had a brisk tailwind going up the hills (why doesn't it help more????), and the same brisk cross or head wind the remainder of the ride.

Well, today was a PR - 18 mph average, with a bit over a 20 pace in the flats. But the best part was I finally felt like I got an aerobic workout today without blowing up my legs - my pistons have been the limiter on my workouts to date. My attention span doesn't let me do structured workouts on the road - heck, I fuzz out when I just READ the workouts. But to be able to get out there and cook for an hour and come in exhausted and endorphin-laced, is really nice!

This weekend will be at least one if not two long rides, and hopefully the work week next week will have good enough weather for a couple of lunch rides.

What was the difference today?

This was the first lunch ride in a while. My last trip I rented a bike and got almost 200 miles of brisk (except for the hills) of riding in 10 days, and have been stacking up the miles the last week. I think I have just broken thru that point where my legs are able to do a bit more of the work, so I now can push harder longer.

Tomorrow could suck, though....