I was reading the local news website, and they were saying we've set a record this year for the most consecutive days of 100+ degree weather. (So, I would be dealing with either record-setting temps here in Austin or record-setting wind up in Omaha.) With that being said...
Thursday, I did the hill ride with Michael--there's a weekly hill ride on Thursdays as well as the flatter/faster ride on Tuesdays. I'm really out of shape. :( I got completely dropped on the first hill, and never did catch up. It was pretty discouraging, actually. I know I'm not going to be as fast as everybody else, but that doesn't stop me from wanting it! I haven't done these hills in months. We also did Bluegrass, which isn't the hardest hill in Austin, but it's the hardest hill on the ride. I hadn't done Bluegrass since my first visit to Austin in December. I think it was a lot harder this time around. Michael went ahead of me, as he knows I'm likely to snap at him if he rides behind me or tries to stick with me (sorry Mikey :) ). But one of the other guys insisted he stay behind me, even though I was going 3.4 MPH. I didn't want to say anything, though--I'm pretty sure he was just being nice. He finally went ahead about 3/4 of the way up. I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but I was also sure there was no way in hell I was going to stop and walk up. I did make it (of course), and drank half a water bottle. I had worn my heart rate monitor, and looked down when I was at the top--it read 191, and I was resting. I'm wondering what it was during the actual climb. I'm guessing 192-193... I think 191 is already pretty close to my max. I think I can set it to where it'll read your maximum heart rate during an exercise, but haven't figured that out yet. Michael and I cut the ride a little short since he'd left his commuter bag in a friend's car and didn't want to keep him waiting.
Saturday, we hit the hills again... along with Bluegrass. Michael said something about "Bluegrass repeats" and I kinda rolled my eyes at him, thinking there was no way I was going to do repeats on that hill. The only hill I actually sort of like doing repeats on is the one by his house that I would ride over to when I was staying with him. So, he rode over to my apartment and we set out to do a hill ride. There's one hill that always kicks my ass, and makes me hate the world as I'm going up. It curves over, which is a pain in the ass, and I slow down so much that it forces me to get out of the saddle at the top, which I wouldn't mind, but my legs are already burning by that point, and getting out of the saddle because I have to just plain sucks. Plus, the cars were everywhere! I'd done this hill a few times, and I've never seen that much traffic. It was car after car after car coming up and down the hill. I hate traffic when I'm climbing hills, because not only do I have to concentrate on just keeping my legs moving, but I also have to worry about irate drivers getting too close (doesn't really happen very often, but it's always in the back of my mind). So we got that over with, and continued on, getting to Bluegrass relatively soon after.
There's a slight incline just getting to Bluegrass, so by the time you're at the street, you've already been climbing a bit. There is a bike lane, but parts of it are really rough, making it harder to climb, so it's best to just stay in the car lane. Thankfully, there isn't much traffic at all on Bluegrass, so it isn't a big concern. Michael went ahead of me again, and was coming back down to do a repeat as I was reaching the top, huffing and puffing for all I was worth. My throat was on fire from breathing so hard. I waited for him, drinking water, and contemplated going back down to do a repeat, just to say that I did it/could do it. I was still kind of dizzy, though, as usual after a hard effort, so I waited. I almost turned my bike around, and I saw Michael cresting the hill. We spoke for a bit, and I decided I wanted to try again. So we rode back down to the start of Bluegrass, and Michael started saying that technically the climbing starts a little further down, but I cut him off before he could finish that thought. ;)
We began climbing, and just as Michael said, the second time up was actually easier than the first. I haven't researched this or anything, but I think the reason for that is, once your heartrate gets up to a certain point, you have to work just a little bit harder to reach that point again. I have no idea, though. That's not to say it was easy going up... just slightly easier.
We finished the ride, going the short way again, as my climbing legs are still new. ;)
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