28.6 miles
1:58:12
14.52 MPH
1710 miles YTD
Bachelor night! That's right, Michelle and the kiddos are gone for the night giving me the opportunity to take a bike ride after work. For some silly reason I felt like really torturing myself so I did multiple hill repeats. The first hill was this little loop that most people don't know about. It is the combination of Springbrook and Greenridge just off of West River Dr., near North Park Street. You can climb it from either direction, but there are major differences with each. If you go up Greenridge, most of the elevation gain is at the beginning. On Springbrook, it is spread out into 2 main sections, giving you a breather in between. I did this loop 8x total. The other hill was Pine Island Dr. Basically, I started at the bottom where Pine Island meets West River Dr. and rode up to the top just a little ways past 6 mile. This climb is not quite as steep but is longer. The pitch of the road does not really change substantially. This was done 6 times. Per Livestrong.com, that comes out to 1800 feet of climbing. Not too bad.
There are plenty of hilly points around this area but we don't have "mountains" with sustained climbs for long periods. The best one can do is the hill repeats with minimal rest in between. As I want to become a better climber, hill repeats it is. I figure that if I can do 2 hours of hill repeats then a "normal" 4 hour ride is pretty do-able. One reason I have avoided doing these things in the past was the desire to get in plenty of miles. Now, my focus is on getting ready for the big, century rides. Doing things like intervals and hill repeats will make the century rides easier. I hope.
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