May 29, 2023

HOW TO GET PRs WITH RUBBER LEGS

WHAT COULD GO WRONG WHEN YOUR PAL, who is already faster, invites you for an easy and lazy holiday spin? Nothing, unless he's noticeably lighter and says...

... We're just gonna cruise up a few hills.

To start, we did something I reallyreallyreally didn't want to do first

Nyes Place.
20% grade.
So steep when the homes were constructed cement trucks were mandated to carry half loads.

I PR'd Nyes, and that was just the beginning of the magic.

Let me tell you how weird this was.

I'd already done the full Cowboy Strong Circuit, plus my legs were still feeling fatigued from Saturday's 80 mile adventure.

Strangely, probably because everybody dropped me on Neyes, I rode that sunnuva climb faster than ever before. I'd only been up it a few times, but still.

Then, I PR'd 2 of the next 3 steep climbs, and got a 3rd fastest on the 2nd of the 4 climbs.

It was just so strange because the remaining 3 climbs seemed so much easier than they ever had before.

Yes, I was huffing and puffing.
Yes, it was a high threshold, nearly anaerobic effort.
Yes, we were regrouping and actually cruising from climb to climb.

But, how could that be?
All these PRs when I'm a lot older?

Maybe the cross training got my muscles firing?
I remember the hearing of the Lakers, in the glory days, hitting the weights before the game.

Maybe it was the nice 45 minute warm up ride over to the climbs?
I do appreciate a good warm up more and more.

Maybe it was the perfect, 60ish degrees and misting.

Maybe it was just physics?
I hadn't done any of these climbs since before I got back into racing and dropped at least 10 pounds.

Maybe it was fitness?
I'm just a lot more committed and fit than I was when Strava first came out.

Maybe it was the bike?
My current road bike is super legit, much more than the bikes I rode for fitness and getting road miles in.

Maybe it was chasing my very fast friends?
There really isn't anything like seeing someone else ahead and tapping into the mental magnet to get pulled along.

It coulda been any one of those, all of those, or some combination.

But, I reallyreallyreally think riding the beast that is Nyes first...

... made everything else seem a whole easier.

Maybe there is something to the Rubber Arm Experiment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdxlT68ygt8