The Need for Speed

During this season of recovery and conditioning I have learned, once again, of three-legged stool of performance: Distance; Hills and where the real fun lies....SPEED! But alas, power and speed have been the last to come this year.

Admittedly, I have not mastered the first two elements, but I have completed a Century and while training for this distance, conquered each hill that this area of North Carolina has to offer. If you're located here, you know I mean Liestra! That final leg of the stool is elusive. I have seen glimpses of it, but then the inability to sustain.

Please allow me to digress for a minute to a few "stories from the road".
A few weeks ago our riding group, Moms On Bikes (MOB), were out for our usual training ride. We have a regular route of about 50 miles that we do each Saturday morning. On this particular morning it seemed that each group of riders (for the most part men...sorry guys) believed that they were faster than us and that they should pass our, albeit short, paceline. Each time a group passed us, they soon realized that they could not maintain their pace (the wind can really blow over Lake Jordan) and consequently fall in ahead of us, at a slower pace. In this particular case, the group passing us was larger than the others and we ended up falling into their paceline. Curiously, one rider seemed to be setting a pace out ahead of the others...acting almost as a rabbit for the paceline. My friend and I got restless and were tired of these groups of (sorry again guys) MEN believing that we were weaker. I gave a little wink and a nod to my co-conspirator, and with one statement, "I'll take it" we moved as one unit to the right, and decided to chase down the rabbit. Brenda grabbed my rear wheel and we successfully rode past the paceline and chased the speed-demon in the lead. NOW THAT WAS FUN!

Each Saturday morning we ride and then enjoy coffee as our reward.
This past Saturday we realized that soccer and other commitments might steal these precious moments from us and that we had to ride hard for the last 12 miles and make up enough time to earn our respite. "I'll take it" meant that I would take the first pull and that we would trade off frequently enough to maintain a good clip, with our coffee as the reward. What a team effort!
Then with about 3-4 miles remaining I hoped that we could pull ourselves against the wind and up the mild grade at a pace we had not yet accomplished. It was my turn to pull, after such great efforts from my cycling compatriots. Somewhere this energy surged through me...LETS GO! Our finish line will be the sign for the Apex City Limits...The Peak of Good Living!
What effort and what fun we had pedaling so hard toward that goal! We made it and felt such exhilaration!

Oh, what a need for SPEED!

Distance....check
Hills....check
Speed...what does this mean...argh! Intervals.

Okay, I know what I gotta do. The reward is great, the work is hard.
As our tagline for Basketball Heights states: Dream Big. NO SHORTCUTS