A Perfect Month…

It’s a rare day that I’d claim perfection when it comes to cycling.  There’s always something that I can do better, faster or with a little bit more heart.  September would have been no different had I not put away all worries of improvement and just taken some time to enjoyment the sport I love.  First, it helps that I had a brand new bike to break in (700 mile review is in progress), but beyond that, I had accomplished just about everything I’d wanted to for the year.

Sometime around the middle of the month I decided that it was time to put away the goals and just ride for the fun of it – not to take it easy by any means, but to put the GPS in the back pocket and ignore the lap/mile times and the average time and speed…  You know, let things shake out where they may.  My averages for the month were no worse of than August or July, I just didn’t pay so much attention to it – call it letting the chips fall where they may.

So, how do I define a perfect month?  Like this:
Every Monday off, rides on every other day of the week.  Some hard efforts, others decent speeds (19-20 mph) and still others, simple Friday 20 milers with my wife that included stops at the bike shop, Wendy’s for lunch and generally just good times.

I managed, for September, 658 miles or a little more than 25 miles a day.  My hard effort days averaged out to around 21-21.5 mph while my regular efforts averaged out to 18.5-19 mph and my active recovery rides, about 17 mph.  I managed to maintain a fantastic balance throughout the whole month and had an absolute blast.