The Wall

Today was a good day for a sprint ride so I hopped on the bike and headed over past the airport and back for a total of 35 km's in an hour and seven minutes. My average speed was 31.1 kph which was down 1 kph from my 32.1 kph of two weeks ago on the same ride. I felt a little better than yesterday when it seemed like I had nothing to give. I did 72 km's yesterday with a fair amount of climbing involved but I definitely felt tired on arrival back at the house. I hadn't been on the bike for a week because of 9 days in a row of working so I had a tough time finding the motivation to get at it.
I must admit it feels a little bit like a wall has been hit where it is going to require much more work to improve my performances. Yesterday on the climb up Grey 19 Brent Kratz caught up to me with no problem and yes I was feeling tired but I didn't think I was that bad. It's so hard to tell whether it was just an off day or I really do suck.
Years ago playing hockey I do remember showing up at the rink feeling great and then having a shitty game and the following week feeling shitty and then having a great game. It's hard to tell sometimes what determines peak performance. I suppose my riding is too varied and my training not consistent enough to make accurate evaluations on my performance. Or maybe I'm just being a little hard on myself. It wouldn't be the first time.
Tonight it's off to Terry's place for his 65'th birthday. At 65 Terry still rides like a demon and loves mountain biking more than anyone I know. He's embarrassed many a young rider who realized in the first 5 minutes of a ride that there was no way they could keep up with him. I think he should change his nickname from oldphatbkr to pedalingpensioner. Happy birthday Terry.