A 63 year old learns about the planet

On Friday, February 27th I had a ride that was a precipitous down, around, up, down and then a long straight up, then a turn, then up and then a long down. I was riding from Aquirre Springs BLM park high in the mountains to and through Las Cruces, NM.  Finally it came to me that this is the deal with cycling. The terrain of planet earth changes frequently from one moment to the next, one foot to the next. The weather seems to be the same, too hot, too cold, too windy, too much sun, not enough sun, rain, snow etc.  Now you have evidence that I have not before spent so much time out of doors in a sport activity.  It is also the case that I believe now that up is not much harder than down, different muscles are used but concentration is always needed.

On this ride I was sure I could make 40 or 50 miles, I felt great and strong and had had a good ride so far.  At mile 20 my body began to lose vitality and it became evident at mile 30 that I would be lucky to make 34 miles. I was not willing to go home with less. I made the 34 miles and was done in.  Riding through Las Cruces required many stops and goes which requires another layer of energy. The literature suggests repeatedly that one is not going to successfully push ahead more than 10% each week.  Repeatedly they seem to be correct.  I started out with five to six days a week of biking and four weeks later I have managed to increase a day's ride to 34 miles but my average is not above 150 to 180 per week. Boo Hoo!