Farewell, September.

This month in review

This month had a bunch of amazing events for me. Metric century, speed increases, a big hill kicking my ass – you know, the usual.

First and foremost is the metric century. It was a pretty emotional ride for me. I thought at one point that my physical abilities were beyond repair. To complete this ride after just 3 months of practice was just beautiful enough to make this guy cry – while riding. I will always remember that ride as the one that made me truly believe in myself. Confidence abound!

My speed increases came in like a marching band, slow and steady – up until this month. It seemed I just jumped past the 17 mph mark and went straight up to 18. Then as if by some crazy coincidence, the headwinds came – challenging my speeds. They did slow me down, but not as much as I expected. I kept my speed at or just above 18 mph. I’m very proud of this. I even had a couple 19 mph rides! Woo!

I also set my new high speed mark at 35 mph. What a thrill that was. Unfortunately it came right after a big hill took me down a couple notches, so I couldn’t go even faster or even enjoy it as much as I should have. But, I can’t have everything just given to me, right? I wouldn’t appreciate it if I didn’t work hard for it. The hills I’ve been riding up until that day were big for me and they’re starting to get small for me. Sugarloaf Mountain proved that to me with the resounding sound of my heavy huffing and puffing whilst zig-zagging uphill.

The good part of this, I did actually make it up the entire hill without getting out of the saddle. So, it’s still a win. Now, I’m just going to have to keep going back to climb that road over and over again until it’s yesterday’s news. I think once a week will probably suffice.

I’m doing pretty well in the Eddy Merckx Challenge, which I just wrote about. While it won’t end until October 9, I still think the brunt of my work will have occurred in September. I’m just 194 kilometers away with 9 days left!