I talk about it enough, here's the profile:



This is Roberts Road. Only a 1/2 mile but a pretty good 1/2 mile.
That dark blue line (with the gray side bar) is the gradient.
This is where I taught myself to climb. Now, it's just a given.
Sometimes I take a different way home just because I need a break from the same old thing.
The front half is pretty sharp so I always started off in my lowest gear (once a 30t, now a 27t so there's progress right there) but lately I've been starting in my next highest gear (25t? 24t? I don't really know) and my HR would start getting a little spikey at the 2/10 mark or so so I'd drop back to my 27.
Tonight, though, even after my 42 miles on Saturday, I was just feeling it so I got in my 24? 25? and just stayed with it. Funny thing is that, before, I'd have to keep my RPMs down to 60 or so and that would keep my HR at 160-162. Lately it's been 156BPM. Tonight, in a higher gear, keeping a pace of 65RPM I could push -push my HR to 160. Just after the 3/10's mark (where the grade drops a bit) I started pushing 70RPM... 75RPM... and my HR began to DROP by a beat or two. Wow, that's a new one. At the end, I was cranking about 90RPM and I got my HR back to 160.

Oh, the title? I've always climbed this sucker in about 5 minutes even. Tonight? 4:37. 25 seconds faster. In a higher gear. With less effort. Frankly, I'm a little giddy. I'm sure the cold, overcast skies didn't hurt but still...