I’ve been neglecting (avoiding) hill workouts/training on the bike, but today was the end of that…and the beginning of a process for addressing (slaying) that aspect (fear). OK, maybe fear is too strong a word…we’ll say area of concern…opportunity for development.
My original plan for this morning’s 60-minite ride was to do 10 circuits of a 1-mile loop I’d planned out (.4 uphill [with an avg grade of 5.6% and a max grade of 11.9%], with a .6 downhill recovery) followed by ~10 miles on the back portion of my normal loop.
Again, this was my first go at this… So, after four loops, I decided that, to ensure 1) I still got in a good segment of regular riding and 2) I would be able to walk later, I would only do five loops and then ride 15 miles. Baby steps, Dennis. Baby steps.
Since I ride in the early morning with little or no traffic, I did get to practice a few hill climbing techniques: experimenting with gearing, staying seated as long as possible, riding out of the saddle only when needed, taking the outside of an incline’s bend, zig zagging to reduce the grade, and trying to stay relaxed (yeah, right.) Baby steps.
I think I did pretty good for my first try and know that, just like I did with running, I will improve with time/practice.
BTW, I started using Strava this week and am loving the data, etc. – thus the cool graph. Can’t wait to look at the month-end data!
Giddy-Up!
Training Journal – 8/27/13:
- Current plan: Mix of running and biking
- Today’s session: 1-hour ride
- Comments: I rode for 1:17:28 for 20.26 miles @ 15.7 mph avg & avg cadence of 79. The hill repeats accounted for 22 of the 77-minute session.
DENNARR(dot)COM 