goal remains elusive

i thought today was the day. i felt great when i woke up. my legs were rested and refreshed after three days off the bike. the wind was fairly calm. if i could knock out 20 miles at over 22mph, it would be on a day like this.

today was not the day. i took off like a rocket from my driveway. i shot out onto the highway and ramped my average speed up to over 20mph in less than four miles. i was hoping i could maintain that for ten miles and then let the wind assist me on the way back.

my hopes were dashed. the wind was too inconsistent and my legs weren't quite as good as they'd felt early on. by the time i hit my turn around, i was tired and my average was down to 19.3mph.

i cranked the speed back up to over 20mph for the first mile or so heading back, but i couldn't maintain that speed. the wind which was predicted to be from the southwest was switching around to the southeast often enough to kill any attempt to get up to the 25mph+ speeds i needed to pull my average up.

as i climbed up and over l'alpe d'anville my average had only climbed two tenths. i wasn't gaining nearly fast enough. i pushed down the hill and motored over the flats. i gained two more tenths by the time i reached the bottom of drouhard hill. then the tenths started falling off. i couldn't do a thing about it. my legs were shot. i pushed as hard as i thought i could...17mph. i pushed harder...18mph. i was maxed out.

as i turned onto pine, i was cruising along at 19.4mph, just one tenth faster than my average at the turn around. i wasn't happy. then my odometer which had worked perfectly to that point started acting up. i wanted to smash it. i didn't to it. i just growled and pulled to a sharp stop in my driveway, sweating like a pig in the high humidity.

the goal remains elusive. another day perhaps. (20.43 miles @ 19.5mph)