I thought the people that rode a lot (like, 5+ days a week or more) were nuts until I realized that there is some benefit in riding every day. It just took me a while to get to the level of fitness where I could increase my ride frequency without becoming tired and/or sore. From a high level viewpoint of the last several months, I can see where I went wrong. I jumped into hard training too quickly without ramping up first. It's also been very beneficial for me to drop the tri-sport training and focus only on one sport. I still don't have a long term plan, which is ok with me. I'm just trying this out for now to see how much I enjoy it.

I guess I am a sick puppy, because the most fun thing to me about the sport of cycling is when other cyclists in my group are hurting and I am not. I get even more pleasure when the other cyclist(s) are male and/or riding a very expensive bike.

But then, one day I, too, will have a very expensive bike (but not a penis), and I won't have my heavy aluminum frame to use as an excuse when I suck.