| Re: Today's ride - odd experience.
jj wrote:
> Had an odd experience on today's ride. On a whim, I rode over to a
> 3/4 mile hill, after about 20 min warmup - my regular route had been
> covered in mud after the torrential down pours Friday night.
>
> This difficult hill is one I've been dreaming of riding, with
> significantly steeper sections than I'm used to, and I was basically
> able to sprint up it, seated. Just a few months ago I rode -down-
> this hill and hit speeds over 35mph not even pedalling, even braking
> a couple times.
>
> Going up it a glance at my inclinometer pegged it at 11-12% in the
> last 100yds, 7-8% for most of the run-up.
>
> Even when I've been doing a lot of small but modestly steep hills,
> I've been a bit out of breath at the 1/2 mile point. Today, breath was
> completely calm, no pain in the quads -at all-, though they did seem
> pleasantly slightly pumped at the top, for a moment. Very strange. I
> felt like I could just step off the bike, yawn, and stretch and take
> a nap or something, lol. Could the darling wife be slipping me EPO in
> my geritol? ;-D
>
> Wonder what could happen that would give an old clydesdale such a
> jump in ability. I was trying to stay 'light on the bike', and be a
> little more aero, as I mentioned early.
>
> I've been averaging only about 70-100 miles/week since Oct, about
> half my normal mileage, very little of it in the foot-hills, and I've
> be-moaning my apparent loss of conditioning. Last week I had been
> picking up speed, and have been doing some modest intervals, but not
> enough quantity and quality of training to justify this insane jump
> in ability - or so it seemed to me.
>
> I get out every day, rain or shine. Rode ~330 days in 2004, 3200
> miles - fairly modest mileage, imo.
>
> Anyway, I'm psyched.
Great!
Was there any difference in how you rode before the hill? If you had more of a
warm up, or if you had been riding slower than usual, it could make a huge
difference in your performance on the hill.
When I ride with slower groups, I steam up hills that are tough when I'm riding
alone or with faster groups.
Matt O.
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