The Season Has Begun

Chasing records doesn't keep me on my bike. Happiness does. ~ Lance Armstrong after his third Tour de France victory

Tuesday was unseasonably warm in Chicago so I made sure to get home from work at a reasonable time allowing for a bike ride. My preference would have been to mountain bike in the local forest preserve but, by the time I would have mounted the bike carrier on my car and gotten there, the sun would have been setting allowing me a scant few minutes to ride. I wanted to get at least an hour in the saddle so I mounted my road bike, a trusty carbon fiber steed that is light, quick and a joy to ride. It is the first road bike I have ever purchased where it feels like the cockpit was designed specifically for me.

I had been riding a stationary setup in my garage a couple of days a week to keep the muscles at the ready for the warm days to descend. When riding in the garage, there is no wind to contend with. This is not so during the Chicago Spring. I was hit by a heavy wind which, when met head on, taxed my lungs and I was able to feel the low level of my conditioning.

A situation that cannot be simulated on a trainer is hill climbing. No matter how heavy I set the combination of  friction and gearing, it seems I am never prepared for hill climbing early in the season. Last year I made it a point of attacking hills, attacking every hill by getting out of my seat and hammering from base to summit, and found my climbing abilities vastly improved over the previous year.

I was hoping there was some residual strength left in my legs from last year's riding season, a reward for the effort expended last year. To test this assumption and as is normally the case near the end of my rides, I headed over to Payton's hill, the hill Walter Payton used to create his incredible leg strength. Last Fall, I was riding the loop 10 times without much difficulty. This time, I was only able to complete the loop 5 times, 5 times with the last couple of climbs being a struggle between mind and body. I am glad to say, the mind won this round.

The ride whetted my appetite for the upcoming riding season. I am  checking the weather every day in hoping the conditions will be conducive to more time on my bike. I am looking forward to my solo rides, my rides with friends, the handful of mountain bike races in which I will participate, and to completing another century, a 100 mile road bike ride for they all bring a smile to my face. I am very excited that the riding season has finally begun.