Two Wheel Blogs

I had a rough week last week. I won't get into it other than to say it was an extra crappy way to end a really crappy month.

Yesterday, the last day of October, we finally got to see the sun and the temperature warmed up. It was as if October had offered up an apology of sorts. Apology accepted. November kicked off with a carbon copy. Even better, it all happened on a weekend, just when I started to feel good and strong and healthy again. Sweet.

So check this out, a tale of two rides.

Saturday I mount up and head out. Fresh legs and fresh air to breathe. Sunshine and warmth! I had energy to burn and burn it I did. I killed it. I didn't leave anything in the bag. Let it all out, and had a great time doing it. I got home and felt pretty well spent. Downloaded the power file... Hmm, not bad, but room for improvement.

Today my legs are stiff and maybe even a bit sore. No problem! It's the time of the year to relax anyway. Take it easy. Go a little harder if it feels OK, but just do some miles. JRA, you know?

And I did exactly that. But you probably know what happened when I looked at my power file from today. Sure enough the numbers were up across the board. The attached chart shows it clearly. I was stronger today despite having tired legs and riding only moderately hard.

So what, you say? Well, for one thing, numbers don't lie, but Perceived Exertion seems to be pathological about it. For another, could this be something important, something I can use when I want a little something extra on a particular day?

Time to go searching through power files.