Hills Are Never Easy

Yesterday I rode up to Valley Forge. It was really windy, and I knew the park was tough enough as is, so I was doing nothing but second guessing the idea the whole time. I had to granny gear it on just about every hill. The largest hill is right in the middle of the park, and doesn't have a tree within five hundred yards of its left side, so the wind was just punching me in the face. I found it encouraging.

The backside of the park wasn't as windy and they finished the construction they were doing so it was nice and smooth. On the downhill heading towards my exit this girl on a BMX bike had her front tire go out on her. Luckily she fell in the grass, so blood shed was minimal. I stopped to make sure she was alright and offer what little help I could. She was fine and her car was close so I wished her luck and was on my way.

When I got back to the bike path I still felt like I had some riding to do, so I did the Audubon Loop (easy). I'm finding that the 28+ miles I've been doing the past two rides is a little more than I should be, but the 20 I was doing is too few. When I returned home my Achilles tendons were a little sore and my left knee felt a bit stiff. My knees are shit, so I was less concerned about that, but Achilles soreness is not cool. I stretched the shit out of my calf muscles, and today I feel fine. My back is a different story though. I've really got to figure something out because at the rate I'm going, I wont be able to ride more than every third day, and that is unacceptable.

On the plus side, my legs were recovering the entire ride. Last year when I went on hilly rides, I would make it up a hill and take it easy, but by the next hill my legs were dead. By the third or fourth hill I was spent. Yesterday, I would get to the next hill and my legs felt fine. I did six or seven small to medium sized hills and my legs never felt like they were done. That's fantastic news for me.

It's raining today, so I may just pop the bike on the trainer for twenty minutes and spin, but there wont be any riding otherwise. Just back and core exercise and some TV. It's going to be about 46* tomorrow so I'm going to make an attempt to ride. 45* is my limit temperature wise.