Cavalier Hill Repeats - March 21, 2009

Woke up this am to my alarm at 6. I felt pretty rested. Dianne was coming over at 8 to do hill repeats. I know that my two main weaknesses are hills, speed, and headwinds -okay that is three weaknesses. I can ride in a flat pace line and downhill pretty good.

I did not get my stuff together the night before like I should have, so I was unorganized when Dianne showed up. It was probably 50 degrees when we left the house at 8:30. I am having trouble deciding what to wear most days. I get messed up going between sunny and 50 and cloudy and 50 as they are two entirely different temperatures. I ended up with a ss jersey, arm warmers, buff, leg warmers, normal socks and my PAC tour jacket. By the time I got to Livingston, I took off the jacket and buff.

We decided to go down Cavalier, past the church and turn around at the stop sign at Coker Rd to get the steep hill at the church. Going to the stop sign is good rollers that are very easy for me, but Dianne mentioned that the hill at the church on the way back can be challenging and I agreed that it would be good to work on too. On the way down Cavalier I noticed that we had a good tailwind and I was able to get up to 41.6 mph. It amazes me how comfortable and at ease I am going that fast on the bent. I guess it is because my center of gravity is so much lower. On the way back from the stop sign, I am able to spin up the hill at the church with ease. It was early in the ride and my form is coming back. I was behind Dianne getting to the foot of Cavalier and I really wanted to push hard going up the first time, but knew that Dianne would most likely be faster than me at the mid point, so I touched my brakes and just followed her. And, she did out climb me as the hill pitched up mid way to the top. I just don't know why I fall back so on hills. I guess that is why I am out here working on them. At the apex, Dianne stops and looks like she is heaving. She still had on her jacket and started getting to hot so she stopped to calm down. She amazingly was able to hop back on her bike and ride to the fire station. She shed all her layers at that point and was ready to go. I don't think I had to go into my granny-granny gear the first time. We casually cycled back to the top of Cavalier and back down. This time I noticed that I was only able to get to 39.? mph. We turned around at the bottom of the hill and took a bio break before starting up again. When it was all said and done, we went up the hill 5 separate times - 2 more than we had ever done in one day. I had to go into granny-granny each of the next climbs, but had a good cadence and control over the bike. My hill climbing handling skills are so much better. I am not getting panicked like I was in the past when I am climbing while a car passes. The last 3 times down Cavalier I tried to see how fast I could go, but could get no faster than 41.5.

Unfortunately, we both had afternoon commitments and need to be back at the house between 11 and 11:30. I think I could have easily ridden up Cavalier at least 2-3 more times. My hips were starting to burn as I climbed, but it was not awful. Maybe we can push 10 times later. We really had an advantage in the weather though as the temp was probably in the low 60s with at mild wind. Cavalier will be a lot harder when it is hotter.

So, I drank most of a 3 SE+1H bottle and a shot of expresso gel. I did use my whey w/a green smoothie for recovery. We only ended up doing 26 miles, but this puts me at 801 miles for the year. Next weekend I should pass my 2008 total!

Next weekend is my 300 k to Jeff Busby. It should be a challenge. I would like to complete it in less than 18 hours. I am hoping that even though the route is more challenging than Pat's route that I will be better prepared and 5-6 lbs lighter. Cross fingers for good weather.

Thoughts on rides in April:

4/4 - Shiloh hill repeats?
4/11 - Vicksburg Military Park or Morton 200k
4/18 - Vicksburg Military Park if I did not do it the previous weekend
4/25 - Natchez Trace 400k - this will probably be the only 400 I do this year as I really want to concentrate on the 300 k and speed work. The faster I get the less I have to worry about riding at night.