For the past several seasons, Tackle the Tower is my first major test of fitness for the calendar year. I've been chipping a few seconds off at each attempt, and was hoping to do the same this year. My plan was to sprint the first several floors, then settle into suffer mode until the finish.
I discovered that TTT is probably not the greatest event for a fitness test unless you start in the first few positions.
I sprinted the first 6 stories, and immediately caught up to a knot of slower traffic. I slowed to walking pace for several floors before I got clear and settled into my own full tilt pace. So this year, I was a full minute slower than last year, and basically had to throw the result out as a barometer for my fitness.
Even without a good read on my fitness, I think I'm a little off the pace for being prepared for the season, though. I have several hours of cross country skiing under my belt, but not much time in the saddle. I'm guessing this past weekend was probably the last ski weekend of the season, and I'm getting the cyclocross bike ready for duty as my sloppy road riding machine with fenders and heavy tires.
