The Merry Month of May

May and June are often the two nicest months of the year in the Ozarks. While that has still been true this year (so far), May was actually considerably cooler and damper than normal. The result is that swimming season was delayed from May 1st to about May 15th, but the cool weather was actually productive of better--faster--bike rides.

My normal 31-mile ride is fairly hilly. The profile on the map shows only half the ride; the full ride has 2,735 feet of climbing! For the past five years I have always felt that any ride with an average speed in excess of 16 mph was fast enough to deserve a special notation in my log. Rides faster than 17 mph have been exceeding rare--and only three times in the past have I ever exceeded 18 mph. This May all that has changed.

Last month I recorded 413 miles in 14 rides--a fairly typical total. But the rides were fast! Nine of them were at speeds in excess of 16 mph; four of those nine were faster than 17 mph; and one of those four was faster than 18 mph. So far in 2009 I have had 17 "fast" rides. By way of comparison, in 2008 there were only 13 fast rides for the entire year. And in all of 2007 there were 20 similarly fast rides.

So I'm off to such a good start this year that I need to reflect on what I've done differently. One possible explanation is that in early April I raised my saddle by 1/2 inch to get slightly better leg extension. Perhaps that gave me greater efficiency in my peddle stroke and that's all it took. I like that explanation, but I'd rather think that I've actually gotten stronger and better. I did some long training rides in April and I've been pushing the time trials in May. Then, too, I'm making progress in my push-up routine, building core strength. Lately I've occasionally hit 80 push-ups in my first set, maxing out at over 325 for the five-set routine. Could that help? Finally, I have to be grateful that my back and my right hamstring muscle have finally nearly recovered from some long-term injuries.

Whatever the reason, I'm fast now (by my standards) and hoping to get faster.