Dumbass newbie moment of clarity...

Ok, the longer I ride the dumber I realize I was last week.

Today I decided to ride my route as -easy- as possible. I don't mean ride
in the park easy, though yeah, that too.

Rather than stay in the saddle on all the hills, I'd stand up and even
zig-zag a little, just make it so freakin' easy that it wouldn't even be a
workout. Ride it like I'm riding a metric century, or sumpthin'. Just
freakin' level out those hills, ride the whole thing in 52x26 if I feel
like it. ;-p

Broke all splits by two minutes. dayum, skippy.

jj
....still pretty damn dumbass.

I had the same experience doing the "incline" in Colo. Springs. (2000'
vertical hike in 1 mile. On foot.) After doing it several times fairly
moderately, I started trying to "push it" to lower my time. It didn't
work. My times stayed the same or were even longer. Then, I went with
some friends that hadn't done it, so I hung back at the beginning,
taking it really easy. That time I broke my personal best by a couple
minutes. All the hard stuff felt easy.

I think this helps demonstrate how much of racing is pacing, and not
just pure determination.

-Tama