Whilst definitely not yet back to where I was pre-crash, I do feel that with today’s climb wrapped up, I can confidently say that I’m “back to normal”. For whatever that’s worth.
It’s been a glorious day here, weather-wise. Sunny, more than warm enough for just bib shorts and a short sleeve jersey, and with just the right amount of breeze to cool you down without freezing you at speed.
Heading out I knew what I wanted to do. Head up to Longridge and climb Jeffrey Hill. I was opting for the long, gradual slope rather than any of the steeper options… one thing at a time. My plan was to stick around 3.5w/kg for the whole climb. I wasn’t quite sure how long it would take, but I figured somewhere around the 10 minute mark would be a good guess.
Without the route plotted into my Garmin I unfortunately didn’t get a Climb Pro reading of the climb until midway up. At that point it informed me of the route I was on, my previous PB, and the segment leader. Pretty sure I would be hard pressed to beat the segment leader in a car, let alone on my bike, but I figured I could maybe take a stab at beating my PB.
With the target on screen I was already 2 seconds ahead. I managed to stay well ahead throughout, getting 12 seconds clear by the time I neared the top. At that point though I realised this wasn’t to the top of Jeffrey but to the top of Forty Acre Lane.
Plowing on over the summit, I ripped down and was going well until I had to slam on as two cars were coming the opposite way round a blind bend. Gutted. There went my PB. I had to hard stop, and as it’s at least 10% gradient from that point on, there was no chance of me getting back up to speed to clip in. Nope. Gutted.
Anyway, after regaining my composure I turned around got some lovely snaps – they don’t do it justice, sadly.
After that it was home time.
All in all, a really nice and solid ride. I was surprised not to see more people out given the weather.
With a decent calorie burn and my best week in a while already in the bag I’m going to take it easy tomorrow. The weather sadly doesn’t hold now – looks like some rain at least. If it’s too wet to go out it will be an hours FTP builder session on Zwift. Otherwise it will be a light pootle around, perhaps up to Penwortham tomorrow morning. Easy riding for the win.
