It's getting warm in here...

There's nothing like that feeling when everything is running smoothly, the joints are all lubed up, and the speed just seems to pile on.

Back when I was bike racing a lot (almost full-time), I found that the better shape I was in, the longer it took me to warm up. An hour of riding building to sprint speeds was common for a criterium. Only on the longest of road stages would I do very little, allowing myself the first several miles of the race to warm me up.

Lately I find myself warming up slowly again. It takes me a good 20 minutes to feel like I'm firing on all cylinders and can push the pace. Most of my lunchtime rides find me averaging about 17mph for the first 15 minutes or more, and finishing with an overall average approaching 20. As my riding goes over 12 hours a week of time in the saddle, it seems that my body has adapted to the longer rides, and says "wait" when it comes to meting out the energy to push the pedals.

I'd love to say that my speed and endurance are approaching that of my peak racing years again, that this is just a symptom of my return to the fitness I had in my late 20's and early 30's. And that I could drop into a race again and not have my posterior handed to me on a platter along side my dignity.

Alas, it's more likely just that I'm getting older, and it just takes longer to get percolating.

That's okay, though. I'll take it. That just means I'm full of surprises for any one who sizes me up in the first 20 minutes.