Am I on track?

Am I on track?

Saturday 10 December 2011

A Perfect Day

I've had lots of 'perfect days' on the bike.  Long rides through a variety of terrain, group rides, short rides, races - yesterday was another one of those days.

After a wet and rainy couple of days in Brisbane, I woke to a beautiful, bright blue sky.  I got changed into my cycling gear quickly, and filled my backpack with my lunch and work paraphernalia, pumped up the tyres on the roadbike, and rolled down the driveway.

After a couple of days off, I could tell straight away that my legs felt great and were ready and keen to work hard.  After a short warm-up along some bike path and back-streets, I headed on to a main road and the start of some rolling hills.

The weather was perfect - low 20's, and a cool, light southerly tailwind at my back.  I couldn't hide the smile on my face...

I decided to start off with hammering the uphills and recovering on the downhills.  My legs felt strong as I pushed hard, getting that lovely lactic acid burn as I crested each short hill.

A decent stretch of bikepath followed (my rule is "small chainring only on bikepaths" - they aren't race-tracks), so I kept up a nice high cadence, pushing a decent pace.

Next were the two decent hill-climbs of my commute - Queensport Rd and the Gateway Bridge.  I dropped into the 39x21 for each climb, got out of the saddle, and went as hard as I could for each one.  Queensport Rd nearly broke me by the top, but I just made it.  I recovered on the long decent, and smashed halfway up the Gateway before the legs cracked - I dropped back to the 39x25, and spun up the rest of the way feeling satisfied.

Next, some bikepath recovery again before my final 'set' - three long stretches of flat road.  I pushed the chain onto the big chainring, and tried to hold as high a speed (and cadence over 80) for the entire length of each one.

That was the first time since my comeback I'd really hammered hard on the flats. The legs had a nice deep burn going, but kept on going. I tried to keep a relaxed grip on the bars, and drive my legs onwards, and they responded nicely.  It felt amazing to open the legs up like that and work hard - I've really missed that feeling on the bike!

I rolled into work still with that big smile still on my face.  A quick check on the bike computer showed 57min - my first sub-hour inbound commute for my 23km journey since I'd re-started on the bike.

Those mornings of perfect weather, perfect conditions, and great legs don't happen that often - they are mornings to savour and enjoy. Can't wait for the next one!!

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