Hi,

Right now I'm just happy to be riding.

I am trying to get back to some basics: miles, climbing, and some fun workouts at the track. On Saturday I did a 50 mile ride with about 4,600 ft of climbing with a bunch of folks who I met through BF. Tried to stay in HR zone 3 on the climbs and I really did only touch into zone 4 a few times.

Sunday I rode 50 miles by myself. Rode down to SoCal's somewhat famous Newport Coast Highway. At the top of that moderate climb is a 1 mile climb that averages 8.9% grade (Ridge Park). You can always skip that climb but I decided to just put it in my lowest gear (39 X 23) and grind up it out of the saddle. I wasn't fast or pretty but I got to the top in less than 10 minutes.

My comment on hill repeats is that I don't have the mental fortitude to do them. I'll ride three different climbs in succession but I can't bring myself to purposely do the same climb more than once.