Can Carly Simon make you a better cyclist?

A couple of weeks ago, I was starting out on a ride, and being late to meet my riding partner, I was riding hard up the hill away from my house. The climb is only a mile long but steep enough to be painful, especially when you have 0 minutes of warm-up time to prepare for said climb. Just about the time that I was thinking about how I needed to slow down because it hurt too badly, the shuffle songs function on my iPod decided to throw Carly Simon's I Haven't Got Time For The Pain through the headphones. I had a good chuckle and realized that she was right. I had left things too late before actually climbing on the bike and now I had to pay the price.

I remembered this because today, the same song came on during my morning commute, on a different hill, one I normally just spin up and take it easy on in the mornings. Inspired by the song, I decided to give it a little extra gas today. I felt strong. I was climbing almost like the old days when I didn't have 18 years of marriage under my belt ("under my belt" being the operative phrase here, as 18 years of marriage is literally showing on my waistline). I noticed this same thing on my ride home last night...my climbing is improving. I still don't have the uphill vertical velocity that I'd like to have, (does anybody?) though my downhill vertical velocity is nearly unbeatable. Still, I'm feeling good on the climbs. I'm not tiring out like I was a month ago. In fact, last week I set a PR on Smyer of 7:06 (1.5 mi @ 5-6%). I can get into a rhythm and feel like I can stay there for hours. That's a good thing, because at Cherohala, I'll be doing exactly that.

Unless I have to get off my bike and push it.

Maybe I need to put a few more Carly Simon songs on the iPod.