Starting to find consistency after a break is difficult. A relatively fresh body thinks it can do all the things. Unfit legs fatigue much quicker than the mind imagines. It’s too easy for me to throw down some big rides, overdo it, and fall apart again as soon as regular life demands all my time. I’ll probably fall into this trap anyway but at least I managed to avoid it yesterday.
I can always count on climbs to be motivating. When I moved here from St. Louis 20 years ago I was a terrible climber. My years with the CU Triathlon team did nothing to really change that. I tolerated climbs but didn’t embrace them. Cue up my first failed Leadville 100 followed by jumping head first into singlespeeds (thanks Fixie) and all of a sudden climbing became my jam. Just keep a nice steady tempo and watch the climb fly by.
Yesterday afternoon I wanted to ride but was having trouble getting out the door. My sinuses were better but I was nervous that cold weather riding would set me right back to square one. Oh well, got to find out sometime! I thought about Lookout but honestly it wasn’t steep enough and so I pointed the Pivvan to Boulder instead. My concession to Flagstaff was that I would stop before I overdid it and I would limit my power. I figured a couple laps at ~220-240W would keep my heart rate down. Lap 1 went smooth as can be although I seriously considered whether I had enough clothing on the descent. Lap 2 took a bit more effort up the wall but I felt strong anyway and the rest of the climb was easy. I had planned to stop after 2 laps but it was only 20 miles so I allowed myself one more half a lap.
I figured wanting more was a good place to stop so I coasted back to the Pivvan. 5100 feet of climbing in 2:30 at an NP of ~220W in the bank. Made me wonder if I should do another Everesting? Flag would be a lot less laps since each one is ~2000 ft and in shape I could do 2500 ft total per hour pretty consistently. Looking forward to more rides this weekend and then getting my bike commute routine solid again!