Training 2.0

In all my years of riding I never  considered training as an alternative.I thought training was only for the people who raced professionally. My excuse was that training would take the fun out of cycling. I thought I would no longer feel I had freedom on the bike. It turns out I was wrong.
I started riding my mountain bike with an average speed of 9.74 mph. The journey to 13.8 mph avg has been fun but it took long time, longer than I expected. The reason is that you don't get faster on a mountain bike by showing up and putting fast laps at the local trail.