Could it be??

I replied to Bryan's coffee review a week ago Thursday that I discovered an afternoon cup of joe is doubly amazing as the first one of the day. This feeling was re-emphasized on this last Wednesday night's jaunt to the bike shop to build more bikes. I guzzled a coffee down at about 2pm and was flying down the trail and up the hills of Ralston to get to the bike shop. I felt no leg soreness and it seemed as if the time it took to breath hard took longer. As in, I could redline it, but not have to gasp for air right away like I have done this whole year. This was great, but I could see down a long bleak road that didn't look promising. Pretty soon, I'd be drinking 2 16 oz "cups" of coffee every day until I went on vacation or something and had to go without any caffeine. I could seriously see myself dying. Like caput. Done.

So I tried an experiment yesterday evening. I went without the afternoon shot, just to see how I'd ride and feel heading to the bike shop, wrenching on bikes for 3-ish hours then riding home. Riding there, my cruise speed was just like the coffee days, a monster hill I climb was done at the same speed, I wasn't quite as strong lifting bikes and such, but my arms are weak anyway, and then my ride home was just as fast as any other I've had with or without coffee. What I discovered is that, instead of the coffee making me faster, I may just be getting......

IN SHAPE!!!

The beginning of this summer was pretty tame as I didn't really do many weekend rides and didn't seem to ride during the week at all (minus commuting). Then I had a couple family vacations and a 2 week honeymoon. This led to a gain of a few pounds and a serious lack of fitness. When I would go on group rides, I was always falling off the back, even at medium tempo, and hard efforts had me panting right away. So now, I can maintain 18-19 mph pretty easily, I can go hard and recover fairly quickly, and my weight is finally starting to come down. All great stuff. However, I do think I'm starting to feel my age. The coffee blocked any achy signals, which is why I felt so good with afternoon shots. But last night, without the caffeine, I was pretty torqued by the time I crawled into bed.

So now that I'm getting stronger and faster, the days are getting shorter and my part time job (which gives me weekday rides) is going away. Next month I'll also start working a 9am-6pm shift so that'll give me even less time to ride during the week. sigh...

I think I need to take up running. Maybe weight lifting too.