Lousy ride today...does everyone experience this?

[mayanorange]

Don't feel bad- that describes all of my rides! Well, most of them anyway.
You might have a bit of DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness AKA weekend warrior syndrome) due to you recent increase in mileage. Sounds like you've added in about 60 extra miles last week. DOMS is caused by microtears in the muscles (that happen everytime you exercise) and takes about 2-4 days to really hit you, so I suspect it was your Fri & Sat rides that might have pushed it over the edge. You won't always get sore, stiff muscles too- the fatigue you have could just be that there was more energy being used in muscle repair. Could just be an off day too, which as everyone above has made it clear, everyone gets.

Gwenn, your friendly neighborhood biomechanist (Since I study exercise, that means I get to do less, right??)

PS- only cure for DOMS is letting it heal, so rest a day or do a shorter distance, etc.

[aicabsolut]

There are days where I keep checking my tires and brakes because I swear it's got to the bike and not me that's stuck. I feel like the tires are made of lead. Chip seal and wind can make it feel a lot worse too. It happens to everyone...I think.

[Misandal]

It's not just you! I used to joke that I never knew what legs were going to show up with me to ride - the good ones or the heavy ones!

It's good that you're increasing the number of days you ride, but be sure to vary your intensity. IMO you should have one really easy day every week - I mean really easy. An article in Bicycling described it as feeling like you're taking your bike for a walk. You shouldn't make every ride an intense one, and that's the tendency when you're trying to improve performance. But you'll be surprised how good and strong you'll feel more consistenly if you give yourself an easy-ride day every week. At least that's what has worked for me.

[DebTX]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice and reassurance. You definitely eased my mind - As a newbie, I'm constantly looking for signs of improvement and on a bad day it's just so easy to say, "I'll never have a body that can do this!"