Originally Posted by
MDcatV
how much variability do you have (outside the 91%-93% range) riding in the NoVA/WDC area?
Haines Point on a good day, not bad - laps take ~7½-8 minutes on the road bike. This is about the only place I can get a real 2x20 session in. I did them yesterday afternoon there, and it wasn't bad. Summer season with tour bus time is straight out.
I can do 3x20's on Ox Road/Rt 123, basically the stretch from George Mason/Braddock Road south to the Occoquan. It's generally long/gradual down to the Occoquan, and vice versa on the way back. I can pretty much peg it @330-350, occasionally diverted for traffic/red lights (I'll hang a right with traffic and U-turn as soon as safe)
It's definitely much harder here in the NoVA area than it was in Japan where I could count on country roads going generally uphill for 90-120 minutes without stop lights.
Actually, I find it harder to really nail the longer (90-120 min) sessions because of this. The constant up/down in the country or having to cross major highways gets really annoying.