Originally Posted by genejockey

Today started off rainy, so I decided to hold of riding outdoors till tomorrow when the roads will be dry and not have puddles and mud and other crud. So onto Zwift I went. I noticed that "Innsbruck" was available. That's got a 4.6 mile climb with 5.4% average gradient,, but some sections as high as 11% for extended stretches. One of the routes theorietically starts at the top of the climb, goes down one side and back up the other, but it has a 5 mile lead in that takes you up the climb, so essentially you do it twice. I figured "Why not? I can always bail!" So the first time I went up it, I decided to go hard-ish. 270-300w the whole way. Beat my previous best time by 1:45 or so. Coasted down the other side, then back up. This time I decided to stay between 240 and 270, and took 2 1/2 minutes longer, but I didn't bail!

This may be good preparation for the Mt Hamilton C&V ride Saturday after next. Even coasting down the other side between climbs is good prep because Hamilton has a 300 foot descent in the middle of the climb!