The Hills

I kind of feel like last year I slacked off a bit on hill training. So this year I've been trying to fit it in a bit more. I got an iPhone last year and around December I gave Strava a try. I've never had GPS, so it is cool to see what effect the terrain have on you — you select a point on the GPS route and you can see how fast you were going and all the elevation.

So I am a data nerd and I have been geeking out on the Strava. Now if I only had a power meter too. I would be found in two places only, on my bike and in the computer chair!

Some of my rides this year:
Road Wed 04/18/2012 Every hill between downtown and Madville 03:40:21 45.1 mi 6,741 ft
MTB Sun 04/15/2012 Race Against Nightfall In Shawnee 05:00:16 59.6 mi 5,526 ft
Road Wed 03/28/2012 Attacking Hills Then Crying And Bonking 02:33:49 30.9 mi 4,191 ft
Road Wed 02/15/2012 Super Hilly Ride Home 02:40:11 29.8 mi 4,044 ft
Road Wed 03/14/2012 Hilly Ride Home 02:36:50 30.2 mi 3,915 ft
Road Sun 04/08/2012 Madville-Hash-Madville 05:52:10 91.4 mi 3,811 ft
Road Mon 02/20/2012 Hello Kentucky! 04:47:03 73.6 mi 3,656 ft
MTB Sun 02/19/2012 Hills in Adams County and Shawnee Forest 03:30:02 35.7 mi 3,512 ft
Cross Sat 03/10/2012 2012 Death March! 04:37:57 58.9 mi 3,448 ft
Road Tue 03/06/2012 Billy Goat Fail 03:10:01 41.0 mi 3,410 ft
Cross Sat 03/24/2012 2012 Barry-Roubaix, Domestique For Bjet 03:41:46 62.0 mi 2,948 ft
Road Sun 02/26/2012 Ride Out To Shawnee Lookout 05:12:35 78.4 mi 2,803 ft
Road Fri 12/23/2011 Ein Fahrrad Im Des Alpes Von Zinzinnati 03:20:52 53.0 mi 2,609 ft
Cross Sun 01/01/2012 Super Windy Urban Hill Ride With Bjet 02:24:41 25.1 mi 2,372 ft
MTB Sat 02/04/2012 Urban Insult Ride With Bjet 03:17:50 36.0 mi 2,131 ft
Road Tue 02/28/2012 Hill and Tempo ride to Work 01:41:41 22.0 mi 2,070 ft

On top of Ohio!

Bjet and I wanted to get in some solid training for Mohican, some endurance miles plus climbing. We heading out to Shawnee Forest for some gravel (we just got rain the day before in Cincinnati, so I figured my original idea of hitting Versailles for a long ride was a literal wash).

Learning from past experiences, there is the Shawnee State Forest area then there is the actual park area with designated fire roads. The area includes a lot of homes, some very impoverished people with very angry and hungry dogs looking at my legs like there were hunks of ham. But if you park at the Lodge area along Turkey Creek lake, you are dead center in the middle of all the fire roads. Tons of epic riding to the North and South!

There were a few 400-500 ft climbs, where Cincinnati's climbs are typically 200-300 ft. Once on top, you get some pretty epic views of some rolling Ohio hills. We rode one ridge line that was just incredible.

We got off to a late start because Bridget had a work meeting. Plus we bought some post ride groceries. I originally planned to start riding about 1:30, but it ended up being 3:15ish! Uh oh. After getting lost a couple times we were starting to get scared if we would make it back before dark. Fortunately, I was a Boy Scout, and I was wise enough to bring a tail light and a head light. We were racing against nightfall and we finally got back to our car just as we ran out of dusk! It's not cool to not know where you are PLUS being stuck in the dark in a place where some of the locals don't take kindly to lycra.

I think we might go back in a few weeks!

Hashy Easter!

Typically Easters are all about the family. I miss the end of Roubaix and I don't get to ride. But hey, why not take one day off and actually socialize you spandex-wearing bastard?!

But this year was different. I got to watch all of Roubaix! Then a lovely brunch with my family at Green Dog Cafe. And lastly, Bjet and I got in a nice long ride down to Rabbit Hash. Some more stellar miles that we hope benefit us for Mohican.