Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The joy of hill repeats


When Dan (LanceOldStrong on Bikeforums.net) said we'd put a stone on the bumper every time we got to the top of the hill again, I thought he was being funny. But after three I had no idea how many we'd done and was glad for the pebbles.

As part of our assault on the California Triple Crown 1000-miles-worth-of-doubles jersey, we plan to attempt the Knoxville Double. We've got three doubles under our belts, but this one has a lot more climbing. To train we've decided to commit one night a week to pain, with no fun.

Our first effort was hill repeats up Avila Road in Bay Point, a dead end road that runs next to Highway 4 over the Willow Pass. Each .7 mile trip up averages just over 9 percent. We did eight. I tried to keep my heart rate above 90% max on each. During one silly "I'm in the tour" moment I was reading 99.

It sure wasn't fun, but I'm hoping it helps make my next double century a success. Because two weeks after Knoxville is the Bass Lake Powerhouse Double...

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Getting ready for Davis


I think I'm doing a good job of getting ready for the Davis Double. I did a windy century Sunday and on Tuesday I went out with OrbeaJ on a last-minute Diablo ride. Up Northgate, Down South, loop around Blackhawk, the back up Southgate and home. It was a reasonable amount of climbing an I actually felt pretty darn good at the end.
I sure like this year's Davis jersey, so I darn well better be able to ride and finish.