Hill Repeats

Yesterday, I drove to Bear Mountain to do hill repeats. Hill repeats suck, of course, but like they say, you have to do what you have to do.

So I did what I had to do and I did it four times. That was all I could manage. From 9W to the top of Bear Mountain is a 4.5-mile climb at an average gradient of 4.5% (according to Bicycling magazine). 4.5 miles may not seem like much, but when you can barely manage more than 10 MPH or so on the way up, 4.5 miles feels like a long, long time to be heading uphill.

For any of you who have ridden your bike up Bear Mountain, I’m sure you’ll agree that the first half of the climb really isn’t bad, or at least it’s not that bad compared to the second half of the climb. It’s when you make that right turn to continue heading toward the top that the road begins to kick up. It’s at that part of the mountain that the heart rate begins to climb and it does so damn fast. It’s that part of the road that causes your mouth to drop open and your breathing to go into labor. It’s then that you might try to stand on the pedals to let some of your bodyweight do some of the work, all the while the sweat dripping from your chin and landing on your front tire.

For me, that’s the part of the road that gets me the most. It’s then that I glance down at the crank and witness my feet turning, wondering if they can manage the entire climb. And if the road turns steep enough, I’ll begin talking to my legs and, eventually, once I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, I’ll even talk to God. As religious as I’m not, I’ll ask Him for a hand in getting to the top.