What a change in weather, tonight was 26deg and sun compared to last week which was 12deg and rain! It was a PB night on the cards for the club TT. I was a bit gutted when only a time keeper was present and whilst he offered to push off and time I decided not to take up the offer and went for a standing start and ended up taking a hop too. Not the best of start, I went deep though and got a 1 sec PB (Lol, mister consistency).
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Wait till you see my planned weekend ride 
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I do almost all my intervals on this hill. Really nice new tarmac and there are a couple of hairpins. Great for practicing descending in the rest periods.
Yesterday was 5x5 Vo2 max.
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ALTITUDE TRAINING in the Danish mountains. Visiting the two highest points (with your feet on the ground) in Denmark. Moh = Meter above see leavel.
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Rainy morning but have visitors staying in the guest room and needed to get in some all out 30/30s. Got rained on, but it was nice to ride in the cooler air for a change. Went to hard on the first set and then too easy on the second 
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Easy 4km run in the park/woods, a bit of rain took the edge off the heat
Followed with first lifting session in months about 8hrs later
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Hit up the local Mellow Velo ride again this weekend before I start my next serious training block, will still try to make it but probably not as ofte. This was the mellowest so far, 2 older couples from Delaware that go on bike holidays together joined us so was fun to chat with them about all their trips after the ride. Never knew I wanted to do a bike/boat vacation in Holland until this morning.
Lots of fresh pavement out the way we went which was nice to see.
stopped for some eggs, not me, but the guy in the photo specifically goes on this ride to get eggs, they also had pickles and soap.
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Still trialling outdoor workouts. Set significant PRs on Biggin Hill and Hogstrough Hill.
Got all the TSS with only three out of four intervals as my mate was in a bad way.
One of the intervals a ‘clean’ power profile, sadly takes me an hour to cycle there!
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In the morning it was out to Rutland with a local cycling group. Lol, the group was massive but only 8 chose to go to Rutland, its a bit hilly 
It was a nice under, under, over workout for me.
By way of a recovery in the afternoon I popped out for a flat gravel ride. The destination I had chosen had a strange beauty to it, it was a 2 mile long dead straight and flat drove but it went through the middle of a nature reserve.
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35 mile backcountry ride. Sun, Rain and Hail. That’s Colorado mountains for you. Finished with the jankiest trail I have ever ridden. Came away unscathed, so that’s a win.
Hail on the water!
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OK, @FrankTuna and @The_Conductor and anyone else doing Grateful Gravel this weekend, I scouted out Jones Brook/Chase Road to check out the flood damage. I’ve ridden through Moretown a couple times since the flood and while there was definitely some damage, it shouldn’t affect the route at all.
Jones Brook Road got fairly washed out, but crews are working pretty hard on repairs and it’s mostly done, with a few sections of very chunky fresh gravel.
Chase Road is the Class IV section and it’s about the same as after last year’s flood. It’s fairly chunked out, but it’s actually a pretty short section of gravel (maybe 1/8 - 1/4 tops of a mile) that’d probably take no more five minutes to walk the entire thing, which is probably unnecessary. As long as you ride relatively conservatively, it’ll be totally safe.
Here are some pics:
This is the start of the Class IV, the left-hand side is totally rideable, although it’s likely to be muddier this weekend.
There’s a spine down the middle here you can climb, with steep pitches to either side, but you can clear it with a bit of speed.
This is pretty rideable if you pick the right line, although it’s steeper than the photo makes it look.
The section past the tree is pretty loose and fairly steep.
Past this, there’s a right at the top, then another hundred or so yards of chunky stuff to the top of the hill., after which it opens up and is pretty straightforward. Also, refrigerators.
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So I guess I should pre-ride and drop off some bottles to stay cool in those refrigerators 
Thanks for scouting this out @FergusYL !! I guess we’ll have to see what the route looks like after 3 days of rain Tues-Thurs, but at least the forecast for Fri and Sat look good. Are you on the Thundero 700x48’s? Think they’ll be OK if it’s muddy this weekend? I have some Race Kings or Rene Herse knobbies I could use, but I’ve been really happy with the Thunderos so far but I haven’t had a chance to try them in too much mud.
I’m really looking forward to Grateful Gravel but I’m a little intimidated by the climbing. Glad I can fit tiny chainrings on my Cutthroat!
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Yep! Still running the 700x48c Thunderos and don’t have any hesitation about running them this weekend.
Here’s the route, for reference. For the climbing, there are really just three hills worth noting. It’s mostly fun, rolling climbs through a really beautiful area apart from that. The Mad River Valley is great, and one of the only places in Vermont I’d happily live in other than where I am.
The first is steep and you hit it cold after the downhill start. I went out too hard on this first hill, got some all-time power records (great!) but burned a few too many matches early and suffered the rest of the way (not so great).
The second is Roxbury Gap, which is steep and fairly long (1054 feet, 8.7% average grade according to Strava). I did a terrible job pacing and fueling last year, so I was out of gas when I hit it, and it’s one of the grudge rematches I’ve been training for all year.
The last isn’t particularly special, the organizers just routed it so you get to the top, then go up and down in circles a few times in a way that feels a little gratuitous so close to the end. That said, this is probably aggravated by the fact that there was a torrential downpour that started a bit after noon last year, so I was eager to wrap it up.
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Did another ride Sunday leaving from the same bike/coffee shop as the super mellow ride but not as mellow, still not anything serious but nothing too hard. Good group, about 20 people? learning the roads better and probably comfortable to go off on my own exploring now. No serious climbs, no issues with the 1x and being the only one with gravel tires on. Anything faster I think I’d start to throw GFs wheels on until I build another road set for myself.
Little over half the people drove in, but it was also neat to see people on the way as I rode over, saw a couple coming out the front door with bikes, then they showed up a few min later at the ride. 1 block away someone was waiting at red light on a bike as I pulled up. Way different vibe than where I lived before.
stolen pic from the FB group…
(Blue trek in the back)
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I plan to be there unless things go sideways with work. Will be on Thundero HD 40s.
First climb I didn’t even know what was going on. Silly me, I just put myself with the front and went with it…ended up being a 17 minute sweetspot effort practically cold. Roxbury Gap is fine because they don’t make you do the whole thing from the bottom. It’s steep, just take your time. From there, you’re home. The last climb is reasonably unremarkable.
Overall, it isn’t an unrelenting course like some other options in VT (see the Dirty Project).
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Yeah, it was genuinely a really fun ride. It’s also worth noting that @The_Conductor is much faster than me.
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Tried Galena +1 on Biggin Hill. 20minute intervals, accepting two traffic stops but as usual it was a bit pointless trying.
Got in two intervals and ran out of time/will.
10min intervals can be done, but it’s hardly a beautiful route. All that stress to avoid doing it indoors seems pointless but that’s what TR wants….
EDIT
I can’t see guidance on when to select “I did not pass” in the survey…?
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