Sunday, September 19, 2010

Coming Down from the Hills

The November rains are trying to get an early start.  Usually by afternoon the sky is only partly cloudy, the temperature moderate but uncomfortably damp and humid.  I'm still running errands by bike, and going for flattish 20-30 mile rides for fun.  I've ridden more than 3100 miles since mid-February; I expect to ride 4000 miles this year.

I hate to admit it, but after returning from vacation I found my hilly eight mile commute was beginning to wear on me.  I rode that route five days a week for more than a year and half, and the year before I rode another route with an easier daily hill-climb.  I started doing hilly rides back in a warm spell in January, to test myself before the Chilly Hilly.  And then some hard hill-climbing on my vacation in July.  By mid-August I was getting twinges in both knees and straining my back on the hills on my commute.  I guess it's a good time for a rest.

Now that I'm not commuting any more, maybe in the next couple of weeks I'll revisit my old routes to work and review my hill-climbing lessons from the past two or three years.

No comments:

Post a Comment