What A Fickle Sport We Love
 

Saturday I rode 50 miles, felt like I was riding through mud the whole ride and was only able to average 16.6 mph. Today I rode 40 miles in the same conditions, I rode the first 20 miles into an 8 mph headwind, averaging 16.9 mph on the homeward half I averaged over 21.5 mph and finished the ride averaging18.7 mph (a new personal best for 40 miles).

Don't know your age or the terrain but that is pretty impressive speed to me. Nice.

I can relate, recently I rode a 36 mile loop that I ride quite often, the entire time I felt as if I was slow, really slow, got home and downloaded the data, and found it was my fastest ride of the year on that segment. At other times I have felt fast, then downloaded the data to see I didn't have a PR on a single segment.

Great point. If you ride long enough, you just learn that there are days that for unexplained reasons you're not at your best. But then there are days that unexpectedly come out of nowhere and leave you with a lot of smiles. We all just need to learn to celebrate and enjoy those great days a lot harder. I guess we're all guilty of thinking there will be a higher ratio of great days once they come as we think they are evidence of improvements of overall performance. And while they are indicators we're getting faster and stronger we just can't sustain that level all the time.

The biggest thing I've learned over the shortish time I've been riding is to just accept the days when I'm not at my best but know they are still helping with training and there will be better days.

Remember "biorhythms"? We probably do not run precise calendar cycles of physical, emotional, and mental energy, but I certainly do have my "on" and "off" days and a full spectrum in between. I concur fully w/ jppe, and I focus on enjoying the experience, on what cycling does for my health, and on getting where I want to go under my own power (I do about as much transportation cycling as recreational).

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.

Or, as we used to say at a bikeshop where I worked, "Sometimes you get the elevator, sometimes you get the shaft."