Again the call went out for folks to join a ride on the mountain. Jim and I were ready to ride at 6:30. I had the seeming luxury of a massage the night before. My legs were sore from a workout on Tuesday, so that was the focus. Much mashing, rubbing and separating of fascia later, the legs felt pretty good. I was ready to really sail up the mountain from 7 Cats. My coach, Fleck, had me doing an exercise that on the flats, I can’t hit. 6 times 120% of my FTP for 2.5 minutes followed by 4 minutes of easy pedaling. I CAN do the easy pedaling on the flats, but at 250 watts, there’s no way to generate that for that long on the flats, so it’s the mountain for me.
So off Jim and I go. Mile 10 to 11 is one of the steepest stretches on the lower part of this ride. My legs are screaming, I haven’t started the intervals yet, but I tell Jim that the way I feel, I’m going to Windy and that’s it. At mile post 12 I start the first interval. I get three of them just short of Windy Point. I pedal up a little more and then turn around to go back down to start another interval. As I’m finishing that one and just starting the recovery period I see Jim turning around ahead of me heading back. I know he’s wondering where the heck I am. I pedal up to Windy and he’s by the wall. I tell him I have done 4 and I’ll be back. The 5th is finished back at Windy. Jim still at the wall. I tell him against my better judgment I’ll attempt the last one. He says he will join me. We head back down. Back up we go to Windy. We head over to the wall and I take a selfie of us.
Let me know, does anyone see anything strange in this photo?
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Waiting…
Of course, where’s Ted’s helmet?
Safely on the shelf in the `bike room’ at Ted’s house, that’s where.
Pretty slow descent from Windy back to 7 Cats for me. Don’t forget your helmet!