After riding to and from work 3 times a week for around 3 months now the following has happened.
- I’ve bought my own bike after borrowing a friends for the past 3 months It didn’t cost me a great deal but its had very little use in its 6 years of life and it has full Shimano Dura-Ace (but not the wheels). It was a bargain
- Despite getting faster the cycling doesn’t get easier. You are always pushing yourself the same amount but this just translates into faster times. I log my rides on Strava so I’m always inclined to get better and better – faster and faster, I’m not sure how long this can go on given eventually the improvements will become smaller and smaller but I guess I’ll find out one day and I recon I’m some way off.
- I’ve started riding the long way home a couple of times a week which is around 28km while the normal way is just 14km.
- Hills are hard work and I have note really started on some super big ones yet.
- I have become acquainted with what my heart rate is when I’m really pushing myself – its anything above 176 bpm and I can kind of feel when my heart rate hits this or exceeds it, I guess it has something to do with blood pressure or something.
- In cycling there are some real freaks that can just power up hills, I’m not yet (and may never be) one of them and when I look at the power output for some of them in Strava I’m about a third of what some of the real freaks are pushing. They either have a biomechanic advantage over me or they are more fit than I am or they are comfortable with the real pain of pushing yourself up a hill. I;m still working on trying to enjoy the pain but I can see how you get a kind of sick addiction to it – it feels good when you stop.
- My pants are looser.