Sunday, August 9, 2009

Hills

The group ride I was planning on today didn't happen. Carol planned lunch with her brother and who she is hoping is her future sister-in-law - I was not going to get out of it. The guys I was going to ride with were leaving too late for me to get back in time to make it to the lunch. I had already revised the schedule to fit the group ride in so I picked a route that I thought would be similar to the route that I would have taken with them.

Talk about hills - This was the best hill climbing workout that I have done this year. I need to get to the other side of the river to find better hills than what I did today. I rode the "normal" hill climbing route (190 into Stafford Springs and back on 140), but changed it up a bit. I rode up 190 to Gulf Road and turned up Gulf Road to Soapstone Mountain. The difference betweent this and the time I went up 140 and hit Gulf Road from the other side is that you have to climb a pretty big hill before you even get into Soapstone the way I went today. I rode most of the hills at tempo pace, but really hit Soapstone hard. I rode most of it at a high tempo pace and then stood and gave it everything I had for the last section of hill. When I got to the top I turned around and rode down to the scenic lookout, sat down and had a Gu. I don't stop very often, but it was a nice view and sometimes you just need to stop and smell the roses. I got going again in about five minutes and rode down the hill back to Route 190 and then continued the ride as normal until I came to Crystal Lake. The road was all chewed up as they are about to repave it (thankfully, it was getting treacherous) - I turned onto, or should I say up, South Street towards Tolland. The bottom section of the hill is steep then it rolls. I took a right onto Peter Green and continued on rolling terrain. I rode that whole section in the top chainring. I had to stand a few times to crest some hills, but it was a good workout.

Ride stats:
Total distance: 38 miles
Avg speed: 17 MPH
Total time: 1:20
Average HR: 137
Max HR: 172

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