SART

Only 4 more weekends to ride before El Tour de Tucson! Yippy! Not so great is the fact that I have been missing my base miles during the week so 60 miles today hurt. Alex is also not riding anymore it seems so I do go down with Mike but we're on different ability levels so I'm left with nobody to push me and my limits.

Last night when I cleaned up the bike I decided to put my Spinergy wheels on the road bike. I'm not using the rear on the TT bike since I have a solid disc and the good wheelset sits unused. I decided to exchange the weight difference between the Bontrager Race XLites for the Spinergy Stealth PBOs and get better aerodynamics for flat ground.

I was hurting on the way back to the car today on the last 20 miles. Since Alex hasn't been present, internal motivation only goes so far. Eventually you give in to the notion of "screw it". I worked pretty hard on the way back up but just couldn't get above 19 mph which is really sucky for me. Then we were passed by 2 recumbents and 2 roadies. I practically drooled at this and sprinted out from behind Mike and fought to catch them. Once I pulled them in, we rode anywhere from 22 to 25 mph. This was the "push" I needed that I haven't been getting. It may have only been for 5 miles until I reached my destination but for the first time in weeks I truly had a little fun on the bike again. Yes, if you haven't guessed it, I enjoy the pain and suffering I endure when working hard and going faster than what I normally do. I guess pain is my motivator in these situations to keep working and push the pain away to some distant part of my brain.

I may have to go find someone on bikeforums.net to tag along with or find some local group rides to participate in. I need that external push because I become such a faster rider when I have something to work towards like someone else's ability level.