Surprised myself

[ian emmerson]

I know this is nothing to write home about for most but i thought i would share my experience today.

my normal route to work is cross country footpaths with no real hills to tackle, however since the snow arrived in November i have had ot change my route to road which does have some challengings hills to negotiate.
As my bike has stayed "generally" cleaner in recent weeks i have chosen to continue commuting by road.
During these commutes i have felt that my fitness levels have improved, which i feel is due to the hills in particular.
Today however i found myself approaching a cyclist on one of my longer hill climbs and from a distance thought nothing about it until a short time later i was quicly approaching him and wondering if i should hold back.
Instead i decided to overtake and surprisingly i completed this with relative ease, and he certainly wasnt crawling.
Whilst we have complained about this winters weather , me included i defineatly feel as though as though it has helped me improve my fitness and am well chuffed to say the least.
Think i will now mix my usual commute between road and off road.

 

[gbb]

Its good to mix things up a bit Ian.

I sometimes find i'm full of vim, i could just go and go. Wish it were like that all the time .
I think the body is a finely tuned machine, just once in a while everythings ticking...and you can really go.

 

[buggi]

i have started swimming over the winter period just because i couldn't get out on the bike. it's had the same effect. i feel really fit on the bike and i managed to get up a hill on my commute without standing up. Normally i stand just the last few yards because its a really long hill and, typically, the last bit is also the steepest. I have got up it before without standing but it was a struggle, and this time it was surprisiingly easier!