Cycling Legs Require a Curveball Every Now and Again

Last night was interesting…  I had a lot of work to take care of so rather than mess with trying to ride the trainer at the office, I opted to wait till I got home.  It was raining, chilly and nasty out so I wasn’t about to ride outdoors…

As I pulled into the driveway I thought about what I wanted to do with my evening…  My wife is up north picking up the kids from the in-laws so do I ride for 45 minutes then go out to dinner, maybe stick to our usual pizza Wednesday?

Then I started thinking about it seriously.  My last day off the bike was 32 days ago, maybe 33.  I no longer worry about consecutive days on the bike but a good day off every now and again never hurt anyone.

Now, it made sense, the timing.  We’ve got the weekend coming up, the club ride was the day before, and Thursday is a good day to spin the legs back up – whether indoors if it’s raining, or outdoors if the forecast is wrong.

So there it was.  I cooked up my favorite “nobody is home” dinner, Progresso clam chowder and had some tortilla chips and salsa with it.  Got a TV tray prepped and put the new Star Wars in the DVD player.

I put my feet up, enjoyed my movie and fell asleep early.  I enjoyed more than 8 hours of sleep and it was good.

My legs don’t need much rest but it never hurts to take a day off now and again.  Of course, every action has an equal and opposite reaction and I will be paying for this today.  I don’t feel better after a rest day, I feel worse.  This afternoon I’ll be spinning my legs back up for the weekend rides and I’ll spend much of the day with a sore muscle or twenty in my lower back and shoulders.  I don’t know why this is, I just know it is.  Either way, I had a nice, laid back evening…  I think I needed it.