Small Victories.

Wow! - do I feel great! No, I didn't win a race. I've never done a road race, really, though I did a bit of MTB racing some 15 years ago. For the last 15 years my road machine has been a 35 pound Bianchi hybrid, on which I've logged many hundreds of happy miles through rural New England hill country. But even though I rode pretty hard, my average speeds were pretty sad, if not outright embarrassing, typically 13 to 14 mph.
Earlier this summer I took the plunge and bought myself a real road bike, and now on my typical 20 to 40 mile rides I'm averaging 16+ mph. Still nothing to brag about, but massively better than my best speeds on my old Bianchi.
The new bike has been encouraging me, too - I ride more, and harder, than I ever have before. This evening I rode my favorite 32 mile route, and averaged 18 mph! Wahooo! Ok, you'll have to excuse me, I'm still on the endorphine high. I know that I'd still be off-the-back within the first three miles of a cat 5 race. Actually, my average was 19 mph for the majority of the ride, but the final big hill before home took a chunk out of it. Ok, I won't be racing any time soon, but for a 51 year old guy (who, honestly, could use to drop twenty pounds) riding solo in hill country...well...I guess I can live with it. Now - some serious time on the trainer this winter, get back down to 145 pounds or so, and who knows what next summer will bring? Life is great! Cycling is great! I am...well...I guess I don't totally suck, anyway.