Mt Tam Hill Climb and Goals

I love Strava. Here is a hill climb race I did yesterday morning (Mt Tam) broken down:


http://www.strava.com/rides/185994 (ignore elevation graph, it was foggy and raining. Garmin doesn't like that)



section 1 - flat and fast with the pack.
Stinson to base of BoFax (Tam Course)
* 4.3 mi
* -0.1%
* 00:10:52
* 24.0 mph
* 147 bpm
* 160 watts

section 2 - climb to the top of the ridge
Bolinas-Fairfax f/ Hwy1 to Ridgecrest
* 4.5 mi
* 6.3%
* 00:25:19
* 10.6 mph
* 180 bpm
* 275 watts

section 3 - rolling hills along the top of the ridge
Seven Sisters to Mt Tam Parking Lot
* 3.7 mi
* 2.5% (deceiving)
* 00:15:18
* 14.6 mph
* 176 bpm
* 249 watts



I didn't warm up enough and was really hurting on the first five minutes of the climb (section 2). I need to buy a trainer to use before races. I should have been able to do at least 285 avg watts up that climb.

Ended up 23 out of 46 for 5E.

Goals


Bronchitis killed the middle of my season, so I'm not burnt out yet. Guess I'm going to do the Low-Key hill climbs until Thanksgiving. Take Dec off. Start getting miles in, but not strict base, a week or two into January.

Challenge Challenge RR & FTP Test

Challenge RR
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Cat 5 - 8th of 15
64 miles and 6,400 ft of climbing

http://www.strava.com/rides/175359

The first long climb after the neutral start, group split up. Seven, four (the group I was in) then some stragglers I think. The four of us worked together on the back, rolling side of the course.

At the second feed zone, guy in front of me went down. Barely missed him. 3rd person went off the front from there, I never saw him again. Down to me and other guy.

Second lap backside, we caught another person and were caught by the guy that went down in the feed zone. Stuck together until the second feedzone when I kicked it up a little and left them.

No problems with cramps or anything. Drank my water, ate my gels, watched my PM and put in a (for me) hard ride.

Highlights: "The road from nowhere"
Probably a road from the 50s that has only seen occasional patching even though it gets snow and ice in the winter. It was all potholes. I'm not exaggerating. Descending that thing, was bouncing around so much it made my eyes hurt.

Climb up from the backside of the course. Much of it was exposed and it was hotter then hell.





Took most of the last week easy, after Challenge road race. Did an FTP test yesterday morning.

300 watts for 20 minutes. I'm at 70kg so that's 4.3 right now. Very happy with this. My previous FTP test on the same road got me 275 at 71kg so that's a huge gain.

http://www.strava.com/rides/181108

Compare this to my Nov benchmark where my power was 212/71=3
2009/11/power-benchmark