King of the Molehills

Its difficult training to be King of the Mountains in Belgium, with the obvious exception of the magnificent Lucien Van Impe even in the Professional Peleton the Belgian and Dutch riders are known for being weak on the real hills. :O)

So another hill sprints session awaited my return on Saturday afternoon. The same venue as last time, up the Policeman's hill. This time with a couple of fans(Policeman and a Gardener) who chatted and watched my repeating torture with no more than a nod of the head on each climb.

I did 10 repeats so 10K up and 10K down with a total climb of about 500M...Nothing huge but I managed it all without stopping and my average lap time was quicker than last time out. It was pretty hard but I didn't die and I managed it all on the big chainset so a 6% gradient on the big chain. If I started to lose traction I just got out of the saddle and went up a gear or two depending on how sore it was on my thighs. If it was especially painful I would go up the two just for punishment, its a great way to switch off the pain as your legs soon learn that pain= more demanded effort.

I've know I've got time to go to improve and I know I will get better if I keep up the sessions so its all pain in the bank. My next goal will be 20 non stop repeats but I'm not thinking about it too much or I'll have nightmares. I did a quick 20K warmdown run and after the hill climbs it was a real pleasure, even the other hills I rode on the warm down I just powered right up them as they were never anything as steep as I'd been doing. I actually enjoyed just blasting right up them at full tilt :O) So a total of 40K , a wee jaunt in distance terms but a good hill practice session.