Completing the V

Two rides:

Sunday: 26km—Up Valley Rd., Crooks Hollow, down Weirs Lane

Weather: Sunny, humid

Monday: 89km—Jerseyville, St. George, Concession 5

Weather: Sunny

Falling behind again. With morale low after the previous week’s poor riding, I set out on Sunday in sunny and hot weather and crossed paths with a number of cyclists out to enjoy the weather. My initial plan had been to go take it easy, but the number of riders on the road provoked a higher pace, especially on the climbs. I passed a good number of cyclists of various degrees of fitness, but found myself constantly looking over my shoulder to see if I had actually dropped them. A sign of a lack of confidence. As it happened, I had each time, but I found that sliver of doubt interesting and needing reassuring.

The same thing almost happened again on Monday morning as I hit Jerseyville Rd. I was surprised to find a cyclist behind me (maybe not; corner of the eye kind of thing). I raised the pace, and hammered hard from Shaver Rd. to Jerseyville. The cyclist could have been a figment of my imagination. And I don’t have such a fragile ego that being passed would have ruined a ride. And this was no race. But that was a long way to push to the pace in a big gear, resting on the drops. Which was good. Good for me to push myself. The pace remained high through St. George, and I eased up a bit on the return leg, letting the crank turn easily, still in a relatively big gear. But on fairly flat roads, momentum does most of the work.

All this to say that form seemed to be improved on the previous rides. The Velominati devote a lot of energy and attention to the promotion of Rule V. But in order to experience the V, one needs to hit bottom in order to “complete the V,” by climbing out of the valley inked on the page. The two rides at the beginning of the week offered that experience.