Mixing it up

Ride four of four this week called for a mix-up of the normal grind.  Rather than do the Shady Lane thing, I decided to set some PRs on a new route.  I rode down Sir Francis Drake Boulevard from the Hub to Bon Aire.  It was early enough that the car traffic was minimal.  I cooled it from SFD to Eliseo, timed the light (no, I didn’t run it) and hammered on the Eliseo flats.  I wanted to do my reverse Ferry commute up Col de Bon Aire versus down. Unlike the commute home from the Ferry, the CdBA is a bit more gradual heading west where it is straight up for 25 seconds heading east.  I made it up pretty strong and continued in high gears all the way to the docks.  I am happy to report that on my first try of this route, I am in 9^th place on the overall.  If I shave 11 seconds off my 4.05 time, I will be in 4^th place (this is doable), but the top three times are 3.23, 3.24 and 3.31.  That will require a bit more preparation and a tail wind.

I bonked again on the Meadowsweets climb.  That bastard is deceptively long and gradual.  The grade averages only 2.5% over 1.1 miles, but the entire elevation of 150 feet comes over 0.3 miles, right in the middle of the route.  After my effort up Meadowsweets, I didn’t have it in me to keep up the work on Horse Hill.  Damn you, StravaMo, I will get you one of these days.  

The rest of the route was back to normal along the bike trail and beyond.  Of course, there was a strong headwind the entire route today.  I don’t really understand the correlation, but it was 90+ degrees on the ride home yesterday which always equates to fog and wind the morning after.  Any meteorologists care to chime in?

I had fun this morning taking a slightly different path to work – even though it added almost two miles extra.  Two miles is nothing compared to the MoMiles Friday routes, but it keeps me fired up.  More to come.