SO WHAT'S THE SECRET?? To getting faster on the bike, I mean. I am trying not to get down or discouraged about this, but from year to year, I don't seem to gain much speed on the bike. In fact, I'm probably getting slower. Its not for lack of trying, that's for sure. And its not for lack of putting in miles, although I have to say I don't do that many rides over 2.5 hours. Today's bike ride was a practice ride for the tri I am doing in 2 weeks. I wanted to bike the course to remember how badly I did in certain parts (hills of course) and see if I could improve my overall time from the race time last year. I didn't exactly do the course, just parts of it, but also added in some other hills and then did the worst hill twice. Can't say that it helped. It did seem shorter mentally than last week's bike course, and maybe not as hard, but I was still just about the same speed as last year.

Do I bike faster, longer, more often, need a better bike, or what? I suspect it is all of these things. I tend to not ride with others because I am embarrassed by my slowness. I am always last. Always.

It reminds me of when I was a kid and used to bke with a bunch of friends after school a lot of days. We biked everywhere within our allowed zone and then some, not something too many 13 year old girls did then, since it wasn't cool. There too, I was always way behind everyone else. Always. My excuse/reason then was simple though: I had the oldest, heaviest bike of anyone (like now!) and while I probably worked twice as hard to keep up, I just couldn't cut it with that bike. One day, one of my friends said she was sick of hearing me complain about getting left behind and let me ride her bike and she took mine. Guess who was last this time? Hint: it wasn't me.

So maybe there is something there. I don't want to rely on that thought alone to push me to get a new bike and then have the same problem. Then I would be discouraged. After all, I've heard it said its not the bike but the engine. If that's true, just how much faster can I get over the next 10 days??

I don't know what the answer is. Maybe someone can enlighten me.