The morning called for some steady effort intervals, 2 minutes all out, 2 minutes off, and do it 6 times. The intervals were followed by my nemesis...The Old Soldiers Home climb. This climb is not long, only .8 miles, but it is steep. When I say steep, I mean steep. The average gradient is 8.3% and it hurts the whole time. The steepest portions are over 12%, and they occur many times, with the least steep portion at a minor 3.2%!
My legs were a little tired from the interval work on the way to the climb, and after the climb I still had 5 miles to work. I have always had a goal to average 20 mph to work, and this climb always crushed my hopes. There are also a couple of smaller bumps after the climb, and they do hurt, but they never crushed me like The Old Soldiers Home climb.
As I hit the climb this morning, I knew I was going strong. I felt that my speed was "high", my cadence felt strong, and I could feel the burn in my lungs and legs. I tried not to look at the computer, as I did not want to get excited or disappointed. When I finally hit the top, I knew that I had a strong ride and only needed Strava to confirm that I was going to move up the leader board.
I continued my ride to work, and kept pushing hard. With the climb behind me, I thought I had a real chance to average 20 mph. I road near my lactate threshold, or what I believe is my threshold, for the remainder of the trip. As I pulled into the parking lot, I hit stop and immediately checked the time and speed...20.7 mph and under an hour!!! My day was made and I had thoughts of more success for my trip home.
I take the same route home. If there is no traffic going down the Old Soldiers Home climb, I can push it and hit some pretty awesome speeds. It is a fun descent, and even has a couple of fairly sharp turns. My teammate Scott was pretty high on the leader board, and I wanted to pass him. I pushed hard, leaned into turns, and accelerated hard out of turns. The result...Top of the leader board for the decent.
If you are keeping count...I am now 2nd on the ascent and tied for 1st on the descent. Not too shabby for one days worth of work. Insert corny infomercial line..."but wait there is more!!!"
There is a climb on my way home. Like the Old Soldiers Home climb, this one is steep too. There is a nice respite part way up where you can gain some speed and rest the legs, just before another steep section...FUN, FUN, FUN. I did not plan to push hard, nor did I plan on a strong effort on the climb. Turns out that I still had something left and had another awesome result!
So all said and done: 1. 2nd place Old Soldiers Home. 2. KOM for the Old Soldiers Home descent. 3. 2nd So. Prairie Elhi Hill. Today was a good day at work and a GREAT day on the bike. Between racing, training, and Strava, I have lots of motivation for continued improvement.
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