The Inglorious Recovery Ride… Keeping A Lid on the Enthusiasm (…Is Usually Impossible)

Tuesday Night’s Club Ride (which technically isn’t a “club ride” till some time in May, but let’s not get lost in the deep weeds) always leaves my legs rubbery on Wednesday. Wednesday is “pizza day”, though, so I have to get on my bike to justify my dinner.

Last evening’s “recovery” ride that really wasn’t a recovery ride because I was 2-mph too fast, was wonderful. Moderate westerly breeze, a little bit of sunshine, and an excellent 70 degrees (21 C)… none of which bodes well for a recovery ride, even if my legs really were smoked from Tuesday night. Chucker was stuck in a test car on a track in a non-descript location so I was on my own and I started out with excellent intentions that were thrown out the window after a quarter mile. See, even though I know the massive benefits of taking an easy day between the hard days on the bike, I still struggle with thinking I’m squandering an opportunity to get a little stronger by keeping my speed down.

That’s only part of the issue, though. Really, I just like to go fast… so what usually happens is I take the headwind sections easy and then let the wind push me home. Simple enough, but I tend to push a little harder on the tailwind sections to go faster and I end up with something near 18-mph when it should be 16-ish (29 km/h & 25 km/h). Done too often, eventually my legs will deteriorate to a point where I’m forced to go slow or take time off. So far I’ve been able to heed my legs talking back, though.

So last evening’s “should have been a recovery ride” was actually a lot of fun. I did some pretty speedy cornering coming of a downhill into a tailwind and just kept it light and simple. There was a little bit of up, some headwind, but there wasn’t much in the way of difficulty to the ride. One thing is for sure; I had a smile stretched across my face when I pulled into the driveway.

I simply love days like that. Good times and noodle salad. Only with pizza instead of noodle salad.