that's more like it

Tonight was Jim's hill climb TT. We climbed Mitchell's Mill Road, from Wisner up to Mentor Road. (map) The route is a little over 2 miles and gains a little over 400 feet. The climbs in this corner of the world are challenging because the grade changes quite a bit. On Mitchell's Mill, it's about 12% down by the river, then alternates between false flats and little 10% rises for the rest of the climb, so you end up going over the redline, then having to accelerate while sucking air to keep the momentum going. I've ridden the climb many times over the years, but I've never done a timed ride up that hill. I figured I'd just gun for a high average power tonight.

The ride started near the dead-end of Wisner Road. (that's the legendary home of the melonheads.) There was only a couple hundred meters before the steep section. I was pretty conservative out of the blocks and up the steep part of the climb, but still anaerobic. As it leveled out, I made the transition to riding on the big ring without missing a beat and kept cranking on the red line. I managed to keep the throttle open all the way for the duration of the ride.

I ended up with an average of 355 Watts. That's my best power output over that duration (10 minutes more or less) for the season, and I probably could have done a little better, so that's pretty encouraging. If I manage to do that at the TT next week, I think I'll end up with a sub 20 minute time, finally.

That was a difficult effort. It was pretty close to the intensity of the Tackle the Tower stair climb, but without all the dust.