May Biking Is Best

Clear, dry and warmer weather means more biking and mid-week opportunities mean, that's right, more biking. Long days open up late afternoon rides. Donna and I have done great rides starting 5-6pm and getting back well before dark. With the Whiteface Uphill Race about a month away, I have started getting climbs in.

Willard rides are great for hill training. Donna and I can do them together and it works well because I can push it on a hill then catch my breath as Donna gets to the top - great interval work! Also, in only an hour and a half I can get a lot of effort expended. I like to go through Greenwich, then out on 74, turning right on Burton Rd, going past the former Leatherstocking Beef Farm, which is now an Episcopalian Church Retreat. The view to the east is inspring as you can see Rt. 74 falling away further and further below. I have small sprints at the begining and end of Greenwich and then as Burton climbs there are a couple of other set areas that I can push and hit high heart rates.

When you make the left on Easton Station Rd. it is a very gradual climb that you can either push or rest on. Finally, on the right turn on Intervale the feeling of impending doom fills your head, because the real climbing now starts. Intreval is really three climbs over about a mile. The first is long and increasingly steeper - finishing at about 18 percent. Then a brief decline and another short 15 percent section, then a long descent and a brief +20 percent push to the top.

Now the descent down to the Christmas Tree Farm and then Vly Summit Road to North Easton and Route 40. The usual time check is 43 minutes. Then turn around and start climbing back on the same route in reverse. The climb back is similar to the climb up - a three stage afair with breaks. The breaks let you push on the hill if you are up to it, so it can be a true interval workout or you can go at a steady pace for long climb effect.

The descent down the Intervale Road is a speed rush. I have hit >50 MPH on many occasions - a tailwind is needed for that. The return down Burton Road is a great way to on wind and stretch the back and legs. This is the classic "Willard 2X" ride. The 2X is that you climbed Willard twice. As we get closer to the Race I will up that to 3X, 4X and more by turning around after the Intervale descent. For a new wrinkle I may go down the dirt Harrington Hill Road and make that part of the routine.

Last Wednesday I joined the CVC Wednesday Ride. It was after Donna and I did a 35-mile out-and-back West River Road ride in the early morning. So, I was not planning on pushing it and did not know what to expect. The group was great - we had all levels represented and plenty of regrouping, so you can push and be pushed, and have time to recover. I will try to get to this ride when I have the Wednesday open.

On Friday I joined the MHCC mountain biking group ride for the first time of the season. For the first time riding Pittstown I am starting at Pittstown instead of dropping down from Grafton. We climbed up Zig-Zag then over onto Bonnie and Clyde then down the fire road to the parking lot. About 9 riders in all, it was good to get the balance and upper body work that only mountain biking gives you. Mountain biking is short hard bursts of climbing mixed with long climbing, so a great way to get better at climbing whether it be road or mountain. The rocks and roots were particluarly slippery on this ordinarily technical singletrack, so it was a great way to initiate the mountain biking for this season. The Epic performed well using all its travel; these trails are more suited to the Yeti, but it is still in the shop getting the fork serviced.

Early morning rides are another way I get more rides in this time of year. I did a Willard 2X ride this morning before heading off to Burlington to do a seminar for vets. Shorter days and colder weather of even a few weeks ago would have prevented the ride - now that May is here - a'ridn I go!