So today the air quality finally improved to the point where I was willing to go do some hard efforts outside. So I headed out to Bogus Basin Road to do some VO2 intervals. I did a short push on Hill Rd on the way out and it felt good with my wattage numbers looking good. So when I hit the prologue hill I did my first 4-minute interval. I don’t know if it was because there was a rider ahead of me that I wanted to pass or just that I was still fresh, but I had one of my best VO2 intervals ever. I had to go back to 2003, when I was climbing well, to find a 4-minute interval with similar average wattage. The next two intervals didn’t go so well and my legs were feeling it. So after the third interval, I decided to bag the VO2’s and just ride tempo for the rest of the climb.
When I got to the lodge I decided to do a couple of LT efforts up the Pioneer section of the road. This is the section after the dirt parking lot that goes up to the Pioneer Condominiums. At near-threshold wattage, it takes me about 9 minutes to climb. The thing about it is that it’s at about 6,500′. So doing intervals up here is like doing a hypoxic workout. The intervals were tough, with my legs really feeling it, but I suffered through them and then headed back down.
The road was in great shape and even on the new chip-seal section, it was all hardpack. I pushed it up the backside of Corrals and every other hill I came across. I stopped at the gas station and refilled my bottles then headed home on Cartwright Rd. I pushed it on all the uphills and made it hurt pretty good. Though there was still dirt on the road where they made a cutaway for the heavy machinery, I was happy to find that they finally finished the bridge over the creek by Hidden Springs. Soon doing dump loops won’t require riding any dirt… which will be nice for winter training.
The ride ended up being 3:40 with a norm power of 268 — that’s one tough ride! The TSS was 259.4. Not bad for a ride that was less than four hours. So my taper is going according to plan, and this week I’ll just be doing short rides at medium to high intensity, with maybe a motor-pacing session sprinkled in.