painesville to chardon

I did my first sustained time trial type effort of the season on Thursday.

It was one of those rides where I decided on the route based on the automotive mayhem on the roads. I started off riding to the Chardon post office to mail a letter. Apparently, 3PM is rush hour in Chardon. The streets were packed with cars and I got spooked by the erratic driving I saw. I set out with a vague plan to head south to Chagrin, but decided to try to avoid traffic as much as possible, and went north instead and got to side roads as soon as possible.

I decided to head up to Painesville, then ride back to Chardon on the bike paths at TT pace. Painesville to Chardon is actually a tough route--you never get a break from gravity as you try to escape from the Lake. It's a gradual uphill that gains about 700 feet over 10 miles with a few steeper pitches and little rolling descents along the way. It's pretty good for a high power workout, except for all the cross roads that break up the effort, but oh well, almost every road around here is like that.

I was pleased with my power output over the 30 minute effort, and that gives me some confidence in how I've been training so far this season. I pushed a big gear at 85 rpm and was pretty comfortable in the mid 300's.

It's going to be interesting to see what time I get at Jim's TT on May 13th with my current conditioning and my new wheels.