Progress at last!

I am finally starting to see some progress! Back in mid-July, I was feeling so frustrated that I wasn't able to keep up with DH on my new road bike as well as I had on my mountain bike, and the hills were killing me without my granniest of MTbike gears. I had many days when I just struggled so much and, although he tried hard to stay back with me on the hills, there were some times when he just wanted to fly, and I don't blame him (even though I was cranky at the time :D )

For a lot of the summer, I worked hard at putting on the miles, trying to stay mostly on the flats and the rolling hilly areas. Once a week or so, I'd tackle the tougher hills and boy did I hate them. But I could hear the TE voices in my head every time I had to climb up the last steep hill on my way home telling me to smile and think "I love hills!" and it worked! I kept close track of my miles on bikejournal to see if I was improving and slowly, but surely, I got better. You said it would happen and you were right!

I still can't keep up with DH on the serious hills, but I certainly can on the flatter and rolling stuff and he doesn't have to wait very long for me when we do separate so he's able to go faster and work harder now too. On my last three rides on a 40 km hilly route we like to do regularly, I have improved my avg speed from 24 kmh to 27 kmh to 28 kmh. And my time up the ugly hill has gone from 5 minutes to 4:30 to 4:03 this past week! I'm sure I'm going to plateau soon but that's ok. I've come so far from my first two weeks of riding back in April when I was so proud of my 10 km long / 20kmh avg rides.

Thanks to everyone who has given me so much support and advice these past 6 months - TE is awesome!! I can't wait to see what I can do next year!

barb

Good for you, Barb! Especially on the "ugly hill"! :D

Utterly cool when your hard work pays off.

Congrats!

Hey there Kelowna
Awesome!!!

Hills are a great way to "measure" yourself.

I have three I time myself on occasionally... they are my "weakness" in cycling, and every few seconds I crib, I am thrilled.

Well done again - its such a thrill...

Thanks ladies. I really had no absolutely no confidence in myself 6 months ago and was in awe of the things you women were able to accomplish. After reading all the posts here, learning, and trying to take your advice, I am feeling so amazed that I have been able to even become close to what some of you have done. It makes me believe that anything is possible. Even a confirmed non-athletic girl who always got picked last in PE, can feel proud of herself. I couldn't have done it if I'd only read the men's forums. TE is just different.... Thanks to all of you, from the bottom of my heart....

Hard work does pay off! Good for you. :)

V.