For us, 2017 is off to a very wet start. We’ve seen storm after storm thanks to what is known as an atmospheric river. So, when the clouds gave way to beautiful blue skies and sunshine last Saturday it was time to ride. And not just any ride. No, it was time to start training for my Mont Ventoux challenge.
I considered joining my cycling group but they were doing a fairly easy off-season ride. While I typically love the rides I felt I needed to push myself just a little harder. As I thought about where to ride, two words kept creeping into my mind - hill repeats! My training for Mont Ventoux was about to begin.
It was a gorgeous day but still pretty brisk as I kitted up and headed out the door. I stopped at Trail House, our new uber-cool bike shop-cafe, for a cappuccino. It felt really good to be back to my old cycling routine and I was trying to savor the moment.
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| Riebli Road |
Finally, it was time to ride. My goal was to head out Riebli Road, complete three loops of the Cross Creek, and return back on Riebli. This would give me five decent climbs in a relatively short ride. This was perfect since the quality of my initial training needs to be measured in elevation-gained, not miles.
I was surprised how good I felt as I completed the first climb. I guess all that running helped a little. As I went over the top I took it nice and easy on the descent since the roads were still wet and potentially icy. There would be plenty of dry roads in the future to practice going downhill fast so there was no need to push it on the first real ride of the year.
As I started up Cross Creek for the first time I could tell I was going a little too hard. I had to remind myself I wasn’t trying to crush the climb. I just wanted to start building my power-base. The second and third time were more evenly paced as I worked on climbing both in and out of the saddle. I will confess that it was challenging getting over the final steep pitch all three times. Still, it felt really good to be pushing myself just above my comfort zone on a ride. Finally, it was back over Riebli Road to home.
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| Future hills to climb. |
The final numbers were 25 miles with 1,854 of climbing. Over all, I am very happy with my first real training ride in a while. And, I wasn’t alone. Thomas, my road bike, also seemed very excited. He seemed thrilled to be completing a real ride full of climbs and descents. It seems like he now knows running has been relegated to a secondary activity and he anticipates there will be many great rides in the months ahead. He would right.
There it is! The first real ride since the marathon is in the books and training for the Mont Ventoux challenge has begun. I know my cycling future calls for long rides over epic climbs. At times it’s going to hurt. At times I’m going to wonder what the hell was I thinking. But mostly, it’s going to be a blast and I can’t wait to see what fun the next ride has in store.
Ciao
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