Perfect Bookends

Well I bookended January perfectly with another ride up Mt. Hamilton from my side again today (that would be from about the 45 mile mark on the below profile, to the summit and then back). Unlike January 1st, I did the ride from my front door and that added 5 miles of dirt road to the epic-ness of it all. Rock and roll!



Anyway. I can now enjoy a nice endorphin enhanced evening AND check off my metric-century goal. That seems a silly goal now that I'm in full-blown, racer mode but there simply aren't that many opportunities these days to knock out a ride that long. It will be easier in the Summer but being a family-man will still be the biggest challenge.

And that's okay with me!



January was a pretty good month full of base miles and a race. I haven't tallied up the time/miles yet but the real result is in my legs and my weight and both are about where they should be right now.

It really struck me today what a valuable asset maturity and wisdom are. Despite always being a good listener and learner, I am SO much more capable of soaking up wisdom now. For example: I might possibly be handling my bike on the road better now than I did when I was racing my ass off in my 20's simply because I took it for granted and could never seem to stop training my physical racing side and fix my mental racing side. Example 2: When I was young, I was the bonk-master. Any ride over three hours and -poof- where'd Roy go? DUH!!! I NEVER ate anything on the bike when I trained. For races I would eat and stay nourished but I had some sort of crazy idea that eating when training would negate the calorie burning. NEVER MIND THAT I WAS ALREADY deat-camp skinny. Nowadays, I make sure to bring at least 100 to 200 calories per hour on a ride when I'm going to go over two hours. And -SURPRISE!- I'm less hungry after the ride, have better endurance, and -maybe most important- I don't come back from a ride so damn hungry that I gorge on whatever I can find.

Now if I could only have my body back from 15 years ago...