Thread: Ethical dilemma
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Old 06-23-08, 09:11 AM
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Allegheny Jet
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Originally Posted by The Weak Link
In my case we're talking simple survival.

I very much appreciate your comments. My biggest limitation is/are the hills. Some of it is psychological.


Although the stats on Mitchell Hill and Barrelton Hill are similar, I find Barralton much tougher. Mitchell Hill is a switchback route, so I ride from switchback to switchback until there are no more switchbacks. Barralton Hill is straight up. Anyone else have this problem?
Riding up a 8+ % hill is hard no matter how long the hill is. In order to ride up the longer 8 or 9 % grades you need to be able to put out the necessary amount of power for the time it takes to ride up the hill. Doing hill repeats will make you stronger than the "minimum power needed to ride 9%", allows you to sustain the effort longer, and due to the repeated stress to your system make your pedal stroke more effiecient. Once you are able to conquer the hill, in time, you will begin to keep tabs on how long it takes to get up the hill. The "worst hill" that I do hill repeats on is .6 miles at an average grade of 10%. The first time I did 3 repeats on the hill I felt like throwing up and/or messing my pants after each rep! Now when I do that hill workout it's more a challenge to keep the cadence up and to concentrate on form and efficiency. The mental challenge is to ride it "well" in order to derive a benefit from all the pain and suffering. I still "suffer" every time up.
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