From 6 to 60

First week of bike commuting is in the books. I went from a long ride of 6 miles last week to three daily rides of 20 miles this week. And I still feel terrific.

My gmap of the route is shorter by .7 miles because I had to use the manual function; it’s exactly 10 miles from garage to garage in real life. As you can see from the elevation, the ride in is a breeze compared to the ride home, where I climb, and then climb more and more. By the eighth mile, I’m firmly locked in a granny gear. As I crest the last long hill, my legs always shake as I catch my breath, wipe my brow and then try to make a sharp right around a street pole without falling into speeding traffic. Once I didn’t make it but had the wherewithal to fall on the sidewalk instead of the street.

That is, until today.

I shaved five minutes off both ways and kept it in a much higher gear. I even negotiated that tricky turn. I am rather amazed at how quickly I've improved, just like everyone said I would. I was so happy that I celebrated with two three beers tonight. Then I remembered I’m running downtown with my training group at 6:30 in the morning. Time to sober up and sleep it off after another Michael Jackson tribute or two.