Where are the legs?

3 Races into the season, and I haven't had much to speak of for legs at any of them. It leaves me wondering, do I just not have the legs anymore, what am I doing wrong. Then I'm reminded, I don't need to be fast now, the time to be fast is national championships and 24 hours of great glen. The speed and legs will come in time. Plus, I haven't done much for intensity in my rides, mostly a lot of base miles.

Tonight I worked in the first real ride on the road bike with big intensity. It was time to get a hill climb ride in. So Chris and I first hit the hill on Mansion road, which is not an overly difficult or lengthy climb, but it makes one work. Then we worked our way to Holiday Hill. Oh the pain! I haven't felt much from my legs at this point in the ride, and now I'm doubting my ability to make the climb. Then Chris started to pull away. Thankfully he decided he was toast and slowed way up. Then we headed over to Horton Hill. I'd seen the hill once, by car. As soon as the road pitched up, I was in my easiest gear, standing and grinding some ridiculously slow cadence. We're talking 20+% grade for a good quarter mile. Somewhere on the way up my legs must have decided to come around, because I didn't feel too bad at the top and felt like I had a bit of spark on our trip back home.

There are some videos floating around from some of the recent races. I saw a good one today (click here) from the Fat Tire classic. About 18 minutes of pretty good shots. The elapsed time of the video is in the lower right corner of the player; times to watch closely are 1:15 (Chris), 5:40ish (myself), 6:20ish (Taylor), and 8:45ish (Chris again). Taylor and I were wearing the Sikorsky bright blue shorts with blue black and white top. Chris is in the Penn State blue and white top, and blue shorts. There are some fantastic spills when people hit the dip at the bottom of the hill!!