Smokin'

Whew! CNY was baking over the past two days with a blast of hot air. I'm not sure where it came from, but I'll take 95 degrees and sunny over the cold wet stuff we had just last week. Yesterday afternoon, the temps had cooled off to about 92, and it was a perfect day for some hill repeats. Ha!

There's a ridge near my house that has some kick-butt roads up and over the top. The hills take several minutes to climb each, and provide a great variety from a long climb at 6% to shorter steeps in excess of 15%. A circuit around and up and over the ridge hitting each road provides several good, long leg-breaking climbing intervals with fifteen to twenty minutes of spinning between.

Near the top of each climb, from the first to the last, as the sweat poured down, heart thumped, legs ached, and lungs gasped, I told myself, "This heat is too much! I feel terrible! I shouldn't be doing this! I'm going home right after I get to the top and take a cold shower." Then I'd spin for a few minutes, cool down slightly in the breeze, and decide to have a go at the next climb.

I tried to average a little over 300W on each climb. On the steepest one, I had to turn about 340W just to keep from falling over. Owie.

It always takes a while for the body to acclimatize to hot weather, and yesterday was a good day to start the process. As the summer progresses, one will lose less and less essential minerals in the sweat. When I finished yesterday, there was a big white line of salts around my shorts. I refueled with cytomax, a banana, and plenty of water. I love riding in the heat, but sweat practically squirts out of me, so I have to keep on top of my hydration.

Tonight I'm taking the TT bike out for some longer cruise intervals, hanging around the lower part of my LT range. I'm basically trying to get the legs ready for some effort on Saturday without digging too deep and burning them out. Saturday's ESG qualifiers features a two-mile climb time trial followed by a points race on a two-mile circuit with a little climb. I blew up hard on the TT last year and crawled over the finish line. I'll try to avoid that this year by watching the power meter and not overdoing it on the steeper steps. My fitness is off a bit this year, so placing well will require more skill, strategy, and a bit of luck.

See you on the road.