Antelope
Anacostia Park, Washington, DC, USA
Getting back into it after a week off of the bike for family vacation. That, plus the heat and humidity, made this feel tougher than it should have.
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Carson +2
Anacostia Park, Washington, DC USA
More sweet spot, more loops of Anacostia Park. Gotta take advantage of warm, dry (eg not raining) weather, even if it is humid. Struggled on the 7th interval - could have used a gel in addition to my carb mix - but recovered for the last two.
Drank almost two liters of water. One 1-liter bottle had 90g of carbs plus 300mg electrolytes, the other was straight water. I think I need to add electrolytes to the water bottle. On longer rides I always crave salt and for a while have thought that the electrolyte intake was low.
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I used ‘Alternates’ to select a VO2max workout of slightly lower difficulty to tonight’s scheduled VO2max work out, it gave me Spencer -2 (5 Blocks of 6 (30s on 15s off))
I think it was pretty strong winds (30mph +) which meant I didn’t go deep enough though in the exposed Fens. I then decided to do it again to give me something to focus on rather the head wind although a lot of those intervals aren’t 125% VO2max,
The 1st workout:
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Kinda a work out from me tonight. I headed to a meeting point for a ride, not expecting anyone to show up. Some one did, so my official workout was abandoned. He sat on my wheel into the strong west wind that was gusting 30+ mph. He seemed to be coping fairly well with me going 83% for 40minutes. He then slammed on his brakes and started cycling the other way and when I shouted to ask if he was OK, he kept on pedaling. Im guessing he ‘spat the dummy’ but if the pace was too high why didn’t he say something 
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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. 
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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.
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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!!
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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.
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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 
.
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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.
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Stunning 
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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.
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Awesome 
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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
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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!
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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.
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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).
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40C and climbing is no joke. Very impressive. Great pics too.
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Thanks, it looked very beautiful to me yesterday but I was oddly emotional after reaching that summit so I wasn’t very objective
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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.
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