And it's just a hill... Alas, episode 3 in my quest to topple Bridget's supposed 7:15 up Kuglar Mill. It's not a steep hill, it just makes you try to ride it faster so that any changes in grade make you suffer.
I began to feel the only way to get stronger was to head off to some mountains. I noticed it was difficult to surpass the 7:31 time I set after returning from the climbs in Oregon. But a few weeks ago I felt great in cross practice, finding power I didn't know I had, and pulled off a 7:24.
So I borrowed Bridget's powertap again and had at it. I decided to take this weekend off from racing so I chose to do 4 ascents to mimic the effort required by a race. This time I analyzed some of the data (average wattage, i.e. ) from my last ride and applied it to this attempt.
I pushed myself to maintain a wattage of 320-350 and no less than 280 on any section of steeper grade. Any flatter section I spun out and pushed less watts in an effort to rest.
I was facing a rather cold and windy day, noticing also my rear tire was about 90psi and absentmindedly carried a bottle about one quarter up my first climb. But I squeeked out a 7:23 with the hopes of beating that 7:15 some day! I had to average over 16 mph up the climb to beat it. I remember a younger version happy to ride up there at 10 mph!
No comments:
Post a Comment