Showing posts with label short rides. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short rides. Show all posts

16 August 2010

Do The Laws Of Energy Apply To Cyclists?

Today, dear reader, I’m going to ask you to help me to solve one of the mysteries of the universe. 

All right, I was exaggerating just a bit.  But there is still something I haven’t figured out after more than three decades of cycling.

Here’s the dilemma:  Yesterday I rode for less than an hour, on flat roads.  Yet I felt more tired than I did after my ride to and from Connecticut last week.  In fact, I was so tired that I didn’t write last night. 

I don’t think I’ve lost any of my conditioning (such as it is) during the past week.  And, I don’t think the fact that I rode my fixed gear yesterday rather than my geared road bike (which I rode to Connecticut) should’ve made a difference.  If anything, my fixie is lighter, simply from having fewer components on it.  Otherwise, they are similarly built Mercians:  the geometry is slightly tighter on the fixie, but they are both built of Reynolds 631 tubing.

And I undertook both rides about an hour after eating breakfast/brunch.  Yesterday I ate a mushroom-and-onion omlette with corn tostadas and salsa.  If I recall correctly, I ate the same thing, or something very close to it, last week.

So why did I have enough energy after last week’s ride to make dinner but, after yesterday’s ride, I had some Chinese takeout and fell asleep shortly afterward?