I decided to commute to work today. Rolled into the office a little after 9 AM, and was sitting at my computer cleaned and changed by 9:30. Not too bad! It was a nice morning for a ride. I had put a vest on over the jersey to block the wind on my chest (not good for my breathing with the asthma). By the time I got to the office, I was feeling quite warm!
Work was uneventful, but it turns out that Matt had come in for a bit today too, even though it’s supposed to be his day off. I instant messaged him before I was ready to head home for the day, and he was ready to roll himself, so we got in a nice ride back toward home together.
The last time I commuted with Matt, I couldn’t stay anywhere near him on the 3 interval climbs we do on the ride home. Today, I did pretty well. The first climb after Central, I was dragging, but caught up pretty soon. The next one toward Indian School was great! I was right on Matt’s tail. Just as he dropped me (I fell by about 3 bike lengths), the interval ended. Doh…almost, but no cigar. Then on the last climb to Montgomery, I kicked butt and stayed right with him…an experiment. I switched into the big ring to hammer instead of the small ring. I found that for short burst, the big ring hammering hard produces much more speed than the small ring.
A fun treat on the way home; we headed up the road to Elena Gallegos and over to the Kiwanis picnic area. Matt’s department was having a picnic! I got to meet some of his coworkers and we enjoyed a free dinner! Burgers, dogs and homemade brownies were the highlight of the evening. We rolled out right before dusk.
On the way home, we had our ever popular race to the door. Doesn’t matter how tired you are, you have to race to the front door! Matt harassed me as usual, telling me I’d better have figured out my correct gearing for this. I did…the big ring…I’ve always raced to the door in the little ring. I figured, what the heck?!? I did it! I won! I am the champion tonight!!
Editorial Comment: Okay, okay, so maybe I conveniently “forgot” to mention that Matt was riding a singlespeed crossbike and he was competing against all my gear. Minor omission. I do apologize…;o)
One thing to be said about this new discovery of power. I couldn’t have done this in the past. I’m definitely getting stronger. In the past, I just couldn’t push it in the big ring like I did today. I’m pleased that I’ve marked another milestone in my recovery from the hip surgery.
You neglected to mention I was on a singlespeed….punk!
Well, I corrected my blog to appropriately identify the fact that you were running a less technologically advanced piece of equipment. ;o)
You guys crack me up. Good for you Jeni!