33 Miles of Flat Pain

Rides seem like they are getting harder of late. The last 4 or 5 times I've been on the bike have been a struggle to do not very much distance. Before a recent outing, I was chatting with Simon and he asked me if I was feeling fresh. I'm having a hard time remembering the last time I did feel fresh on a ride. It's taking every ounce of energy I have to just get through 25 or 30 miles.

This morning's ride consisted of riding out to this little town called Hygiene to meet up with Alison, who had left for a 3 hour ride at 9am. I knew I didn't want to go that early because it has gotten quite cold here, and I wouldn't last the whole 3 hours given how I've been feeling on the bike lately. So, we compromised and met up an hour after I left the house for the last block of Alison's ride.

I left the house an hour before our planned meet up of 11. I figured I'd have time to spare to cover the 15 miles to the town. I got there a whopping 30 seconds before Al's arrival. When I asked her what time it was she said it was five after 11. I knew I was feeling bad on the way, but I had a hard time believing that I used an entire hour to go such a short distance. The road out is rolling, but not constantly uphill, and once I make the right hander off 36 it's almost entirely down a very slight grade to Hygiene. I told Al I wasn't sure how much use I'd be to her since I was feeling so rubbish. We set off towards home and reached a pace that was a bit faster than what I'd been doing on the way out, but I was feeling pretty comfortable. There are a couple of short bursts of up on the road we were on, and every one of them made me feel like my chest was going to pound it's way right out of my ribcage. Frustrating.

I understand that cold weather that has hit us like it has, without much lead time to prepare, can have adverse effects on the body. On Sunday it was 75 degrees. As I write this, the thermometer reads 35. I reckon it was about 40 on the ride today. Still, I hate how I can go from feeling pretty good, and can go out on rides with some degree of intensity, then without changing that pattern can feel completely crap.

I figure I'm going to have a nice Roly-like rug on the 'ole thorax at this rate.