Good things come

I decided something last night, while I was climbing a small hill at inexplicably slow speeds:  holy crap, I picked up some speed in the last few weeks.   I know, this seems contradictory, but bear with me.   You see, as I was struggling up this hill (due to my low back abandoning me several miles earlier), I noticed that my average speed for the trip was over 17 mph.   I know for some folks that isn't fast, but for me that's pretty much my top average speed, and it was the second hard ride in a week that I had seen those numbers.  Even better, this was my average speed including in town riding AND the afore mentioned several miles of low back abandoned rollers.    So, really, it probably was like 25 mph otherwise (kidding...kidding).   

This is even more marvelous to me given that a few weeks ago on a group ride I had pretty much given up on keeping up with the club for the rest of the season, as my couple of weeks off the bike had sapped my strength on the bike in unprecedented fashion.   I seem to recall turning in a ride during tri practice that averaged *cough* 12 mph *cough*.   That I am now able to hold onto a wheel at better than 19 mph is not something I thought I would be doing this season.   

This has given me new energy in the triathlon side of things.   After losing so much ground on the bike and being unable to run for nearly two months, I had given up on the notion of doing a tri this year.   Now, though, I'm eyeing up some later events and making some soft commitments.  I still need to get my ankle broken (ha!) in again, and my back is not happy, but I think something at the end of August is reasonable.   That's probably about as late as I can go, as I'm still without a wet suit until I actually finish one of these damn things and decide for sure that I want to do something other than sprint length.   

The next two or three months are hot and heavy with rides and other activities.   Despite my earlier misgivings, I think I'll be ready for them.  And that's pretty awesome.