Getting stronger
“Cycling never gets any easier, you just get stronger”—Greg LeMond
Since I started cycling almost six months ago, I’ve found that, physically, I improve in a series of plateaus. April was a long hard climb after 35 years between rides and being in typical shape for a sedentary middle-aged American male.
Then in May, things evened out. I was able to ride without pain and collapse. I began to really, really enjoy my rides because they no longer seemed to require Herculean effort. I began to build endurance as my distances increased. My speed seemed to plateau. Then I learned about cadence. I focused on cadence rather than speed as a measure.
Come June, suddenly I found I could push higher gears at the same cadence. I began working more hills into rides and attacked them with cadence too. Towards the end of the month, I bought a new cassette with closer-spaced gear ratios so I could maintain cadence more easily in shifting winds and varying terrain.
In the heat of July, at least when I wasn’t commuting, I was able to maintain pretty good cadence over longer and longer distances. Still, speed seemed to plateau at just over 14 MPH.
August, was a bit of a setback. The new saddle and riding position used new muscle groups. It took a while for those parts to catch up with the rest. I let endurance drop in favor of strength-building to maintain cadence. I missed my distance goal for the month, but felt pretty satisfied with how well things were improving otherwise.
September started with no real change in average speed or average cadence for most rides. I wasn’t able to take the time for longer, endurance-building rides, but I made due with taking the long way on commutes.
Then, this week, holy cats! My cruising speed and typical cruising cadence have jumped each day. Plus, I feel stronger. I can really push for longer distances at higher speeds. I rode to Presbytery all four days this week. My average speed going there went 16.1, 16.3, 16.5 and 16.7 over the same route and conditions each day. Today, I actually thought I was taking it easy, yet, I zipped by two cyclists on Park Ave and arrived with a new record time and average speed.
It’s about 4½ miles there, and about 10 miles home taking the long way. Until the last couple of weeks, I’d occassionaly rest on the way home, to be sure I had strength when I needed it, in downtown five o’clock traffic. Sometimes this meant stopping, but most of the time, it was riding slow in an easy gear for a mile or two.
This week, I’ve been riding pretty hard, non-stop on the long ways home, and battling the wind every day to boot. Tonight, after passing a chick on East Ave who was riding along at a pretty good clip herself, I couldn’t wait to get back on the bike to go grocery shopping. I did wait for traffic to clear, but I didn’t need to wait for my body to recover. Riding to the store, I burst down University Ave cruising at 22–23 all the way.
Coming back fully laden with panniers and backpack overflowing with foodstuffs, I took it easy, but was still able keep pace with a guy on an MTB who kept trying to drop me. He came up from behind me. As he went by he’d crank it up, shift, crank it up again, shift, and a moment later, I’d be right there again. This went on for a mile or down University before I had to turn off.
Monday night I had to sub for a coworker at the library. I had an hour to go about three miles. I did it in record time. At one point, admittedly on a slight descent, I had to slow down so I wouldn’t be passing cars on the right. And I still had two more gears. The chick in the passenger seat of the Mazda RX-8 pacing me kept looking over, wondering when her boyfriend was going to pass this old guy on a bike.
Something I’m finding quite interesting, it that my maximum speeds are falling off while my averages are increasing. This tells me that cruising speed and time spent at cruising speed are increasing. And that’s exactly where I’ve wanted an increase.
If this goes the way it has, I have a few more days before things level out again at a new plateau. Where I think it will level out is just below where several guys I track seem to ride. Only they’ve been doing it for years and ride road bikes to do it. I’m sure there are other factors like traffic, wind and terrain, but it’s got me feeling pretty good.
And it’s got me feeling like I’ll, not only deserve, but will be able to appreciate and grow into that new road bike I’m looking at for the spring.
