Way to go man! If I could have made my body go that hard I would have placed in the money yesterday!

FWIW, I have a feeling that a bit of brute strength will help you to continue improving. For comparison's sake, my Mr. considers anything under a half mile, of any grade, to be short enough to sprint over in the big ring. (Which was annoying when discussing the half mile 6% climb that killed me yesterday, and he looks at me and says, "That's not a climb!") If I recall the last time you posted numbers for weight lifting, you have some room for improvement there whether you work on power intervals and hill intervals on the bike, or whether you hit the gym and pump iron.

(PS. Chemistry is hard. Physics is phun. )