Went on a nice ride today in the "valleys" around my home. This means I was facing some rolling hills, but I was ready. To my surprise, the hills really weren't getting to me. Sure, I had to work, but I wasn't struggling as much as I expected. (I was also trying to practice something I just read about: a sort of zen feeling of letting the hill come to me rather than trying to force the climb.)
Things were going well. I then turned East and prepared for what I remembered to be a relatively long, slow climb. (It's been a few years since I went into that particular area.) To my surprise, it seeed to be mainly flat with a little downhill! Easier ride than I thought.
Then I looped back around.
Oh, my.
That mainly flat area with a little downhill actually had been uphill! For a moment I thought I'd really developed some great climbing stamina. Then reality sets in: The wind! The wind was pushing me up that hill.
You know what that means, right?
Yep, I had to really push it to go back downhill! That's got to be the most annoying thing in cycling, having to work hard to go downhill against a headwind.
Luckily, it got a little better when I turned back South, but not much.
So, lesson #781: If the ascent seems to easy to be true... be ready for a hard descent.
(I still had a blast.)
Intervals on River Road
14 hours ago
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Haha! :D
I have got this "oh my I feel so good and strong and every thing is so easy" feeling quite a few times. :) Even when I should know better. The sun seems to shine brighter, the birds seem to sing prettier, and I generally feel like an absolute cycling hero. The silence should be the giveaway, it is always so silent when you got tailwind. But even when you should have too much experience to get lulled into a false perception of feeling strong, it still happens. :)
It is sometimes a little funny to go for a club ride with some young eager cyclists, while in tailwind. They get so excited because they feel like they are invincible and that their form has finally arrived. They go out in front to pull the old farts along and go for short sprints and generally remind me of cycling puppies. Oh how surprised they are when we turn back and it dawns on them that they have been in a tailwind the whole while. Often they have wasted all their energy so we the old dogs end up going upfront to pull the poor buggers home. ;)
This is classic stuff. ;)
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