A Tale Of Two Rides

Two days ago, I was a defeated bike rider, ready to give up! I left the house, and headed for a McLoud loop, a 49 mile ride I do a lot. I thought Wow, I'm really pickin' 'em up and puttin' 'em down, my speed average is really going to be great today. How I got to this point started a couple of weeks ago when I knocked out a thirty-two mile ride and averaged 16 mph, then a week later, I did a Metric Century ride and averaged 15.5 mph.....holy-moly, I gettin' to be a pro!!!. Then I did a couple near 15 flat, but you get the idea..... it was becoming an obsession. So now, as I left the house heading west on the way to McLoud, on mostly flat roads, I kept looking down at the speedometer and seeing lots of 22-25 mph speeds, I was all over myself. All this euphoria ended however when I got to McLoud and turned back east on Hazel Del road. I had been fortunate enough to be pushed along with a 14-16mph tailwind all the way over, on the flat road. Now, however it's all different, big rolling hills, some at 14 to 16 percent grades literally ALL the way back. Now, I had that 14-16mph HEADWIND directly from the east, trying to keep me from getting to the top of each and every one of those hills. I struggled mightely up each hill, pedalled down all the way to the bottom, exerting myself to the max, but still seeing an awfully lot of 5-6 mph speeds on the speedometer. By the time I had reached 30 miles, I could turn and go back home, or continue on for the whole 49 miles. I almost turned and went home. I was soooo tired, and so angry at the wind, and myself, that I had almost defeated myself. I decided to go ahead and finish the ride, and whatever the speed was..... it was. And so I did, still had a lot of anger and disappointment, but I struggled on to the end. Average speed.... 14.8 ...... I couldn't believe there was so little difference. And to think I beat myself up over a couple tenths of a mile per hour.

Today, however, I did the same route. I vowed not to even look at the speedometer until I finished the ride. It didn't matter. Still had the same 10-14mph wind, this time it had come around a little to the Southeast, but still a tough headwind on the hilly part of the ride. I had a WONDERFUL ride, was happy, and singing, talking to the cattle and the birds, talked to strangers I met on the road, and had a ride just like the ones I enjoy so much. Still had the tough headwind coming back, but it just didn't bother me at all. When I got to the 4 mile upgrade on the home stretch, with a tailwind, I had the strength to power on up at a reasonable speed, and zipped down the steep downhill at 42mph with a tailwind..... (I cheated on the downhill, and peeked at the speedo) ..... I felt on top of the World! Rode the rest of the way home ( another mile) put the bike up and then called up my average speed............. are you ready for this....... 14.8 mph! All that anger and frustration the other day, and such a wonderful ride today ........ and it was the same. Just goes to show ya....... you can defeat yourself. I was ready to throw in the towel the other day, but today had a wonderful ride. The route was the same, the wind was the same, the average speed was the same........ only my attitude was different! I'm gonna have more days like the second one.