Guessing they were crosswind gusts at a few points, I wonder if that’s what he wasn’t enjoying. People, hey? ![]()
The crappiest part about that is you abandoned a workout for that. Did you decide afterwards to get some work in? Decent speed for those conditions. ![]()
5 Mile Jog
Portsmouth, NH, USA
Work travel brought me to Portsmouth, NH. I grew up in New Hampshire so it was great coming back ‘home.’ There was a nice, shaded rail trail less than a mile from the hotel so I went for a jog. I’m trying to run once a week. These are less about the cardio (although I held HR in the tempo zone the whole run) and more about (re)building strength in my joints, connective tissue, and stabilizing muscles. I used to be an avid runner, before cycling, but switched due to my knees not liking it so much anymore. I miss the ‘portability’ of it when traveling, though - so much less stuff to bring than to cycle, even indoors.
EDIT: RWGPS link to the whole New Hampshire Seacoast Greenway. I obviously only jogged a short section of it. Would love to bike the whole thing one day. I actually got passed by a group ride of some sort.
I’ve done the same, including running to my routine to try to build up my aging body. It’s been great for travel, and I’ve found that by taking it VERY slow to build, I’m actually enjoying running for the first time in decades. It’s nice to get a workout done in less than an hour too!!
Monitor +3
Anacostia Park, Washington, DC, USA
This was yesterday’s workout (30 June). Debated riding outside before work due to the potential for overnight rain, but checked the weather right before bed and decided it would be clear (it was). Commute is so much less frustrating early in the morning, I get to sleep in a little bit more, I get a close parking spot, and I get to my desk sooner than when I ride at home. (DC / northern Virginia traffic really sucks now that the rest of the federal government is back to working in the office.)
Anyway, looks like I over cooked each interval by about 1-2%. Not a big deal, and I marked the post-workout survey as Moderate. Anacostia Park is great for intervals up to 11-12 minutes long. I mis-judged the turn around point and had to cut the second interval short by 30 seconds. Tacked on 30 seconds to the very last interval to make up for it. Other than that, pretty pleased with this execution, but pan flat roads help a lot.
Despite checking several times, AT never adapted today’s workout and gave me Monitor +3 again. I initially changed it myself to Geiger +2 (5 x 12 @ 88-94%) but decided halfway through the first 12-minute interval that wasn’t going to happen. I switched back to Monitor +3, downed a gel (in addition to my carb bottle), and pushed through. Didn’t really feel all that great until the middle of the second set. Was really humid in the pain closet, though, and I was dripping sweat down my backside onto the chain stays, rear brake, and trainer. Yuck.
I had Sleeping Beauty -5 in my calendar tonight and went out on a flat group ride route with the hopes of catching them to say hello when I cut the corner and being dragged up Holme Road into the strong headwind. I did the VO2max session then tempo’d to beat the light and meet them. I should have went endurance pace though as the Holme Level crossing was down and I was waiting on my own for about 20mins with the barriers down before they appeared and it was me doing the dragging.
PS I was wearing new shoes (Sidi Sixties) which seemed to make it easier to spin up to a higher cadence in intervals
.
I’m in Norway with a friend, riding mostly gravel in the mountains. Pure cycling heaven.
We did a ride called The Tour de Dovre yesterday, around a national park. The first 50km (through Grimsdalen) is my absolute favourite road anywhere. Starts with a really good 600m climb (2nd overall - 36 minutes at 410w) and then 35km of gentle downhill, which was tailwind assisted ![]()
The last leg of the ride gave me a chance to have a pop at a long, technical gravel segment between two towns along a route that is partly purpose-built gravel bike track, part abandoned asphalt road and part forestry track. I had a stiff headwind, but took the CR off a pro by 4 minutes.
Nothing quite like challenging riding in stunning scenery.
Stunning ![]()
A shorter day in the Norwegian mountains today, with the summit of Blåhoe being the only goal.
1245m vertical in 14.95km on fairly rough gravel. I took a little over 3.5 minutes off my time from last year, did 12w more with 388w for 69 minutes (today was far hotter than yesterday, or indeed last year, with 28c showing on the lower slopes) and jumping from 9th to 4th on the Strava leaderboard.
I made the mistake of forgetting how rough it was and putting a little too much pressure in my tyres, thinking that it would save me time on the lower slopes. I’m sure that it cost me time in the end with the ride being a bit too hard and jarring from the mid point up.
I managed to get a Dutch motorcyclist to take photos of me summiting the climb by yelling (politely!) at him.
It’s such a beautiful climb, and the treat for me was that last time there was a cloud inversion and everything below 900m was shrouded. This time, the visibility was perfect.
Awesome ![]()
Monte Zoncolan from Orvaro, the stats look so unassuming but this was the hardest ride I ever did and that includes the 177km/5k climbing in temperatures up 43C during the Marmotte I did just 11 days ago (and I did Stelvio from Prad am Stilfserjoch yesterday which just was a gentle albeit long climb). Reaching the summit literally made me cry but I made it without stopping
Good effort
Great
too
I couldn’t imagine climbing in 43deg C, especially with the Marmotte still in your legs. When I did the Marmotte it was 33deg C and that was hot enough for me. Climbing the Gallibier actually seemed to get easier as I got higher, principally because it got cooler!
Today was only 39C max (34 average). It was 43C during the Marmotte up Alpe d’Huez
. I don’t think I even noticed the temperature much today as I was just too busy fighting the gradient and keeping upright.
Acording to my Garmin when I did it was only an average of 25deg C (It got to 41deg C in the sun somewhere and with wind chill down to 11deg C).
40C and climbing is no joke. Very impressive. Great pics too.
Thanks, it looked very beautiful to me yesterday but I was oddly emotional after reaching that summit so I wasn’t very objective
Byron Pass
Franklin County, ME, USA
No workout, just a gravel ride up and over the Byron Pass from Weld. Don’t bother attempting any KOMs after spending the first half of the afternoon on the lake. Lost my road bike KOM from Dixfield to Weld last month. If we’re able to come back in August I might have to try to get it back.
Mt. Blue Access Road
Franklin County, ME, USA
Another gravel ride, no workout. Went into town (don’t blink or you’ll miss it), up to The Lookout, onto the gravel road toward the Mt. Blue trailhead. Took a quick side detour to try to grab the KOM up to Center Hill (got it, btw, but I don’t think there were any serious previous attempts - not sure why it’s titled “Lookout Road Climb” since The Lookout is off of the asphalt before the gravel road begins, and this climb is to the parking lot for Center Hill
).
Then onto the Mt. Blue access road to the trailhead. Road was in great shape but the horse flies were super aggressive. U turn in the parking lot, back to the main gravel road, then back toward town on some asphalt before a short stint on the Byron Pass to get nearly 90 minutes for the total ride.
Gendarme +3 was in my calendar tonight. A couple of the On’s were through ‘S’ bends or downhill or when I had to give way to traffic but on the whole I’m happy with it. Although I could have done with the intervals being a tad longer to push my MHR over 90%
Kept it at circa 75% after that so I’d get home before dark. A few times I thought about short cuts but I decided to stay on better roads and avoid the Holme level crossing (I was there for 6 trains, 20+ mins last week). I quite pleased with how it went considering it was all into a headwind,
Gravel Ride
Franklin County, ME, USA
Last ride of this vacation. Some of the same gravel roads as yesterday but finished the loop (square) by West Brook.
A few weeks ago I visited the Haute Pyrenees, ostensibly as a ‘road trip’ with my missus, albeit as per every holiday these days, there’s pretty much always a cycling element that I shoehorn in for my own benefit ![]()
Unluckily I picked up a nasty virus from work a few days before leaving for France.
So my effort up the Hautacam was midway through trying to shrug off a pretty bad cold / chest / headache. I was below par and just pleased to get to the top (and do the extra bit to add the col de Tramasell).
Chuffed to hold 270w for an hour and a quarter even though I posted a relatively pedestrian time for the climb segment.
The day after next I then attempted to ride the Col de Luz Ardiden climb which personally I found much more of a challenge than the Hautacam. I also felt a LOT more unwell (I think the Hautacam made things worse
). Could barely turn over 240w and felt like giving up / stopping / bailing out on several occasions. Managed to persevere to the top and actually felt a huge sense of achievement in that alone - albeit possibly one of the slowest ascents of the climb this year!
Crepes and beer makes everything feel better! Lesson of the vacation - don’t try and climb a big mountain when feeling unwell ![]()
Video of my effort up the Hautacam below: warning - contains lots of sweating!! ![]()



















































