Spring Hill Repeats

Me all dressed and ready
to go!

Joy here...My Trainer and spinning instructor are two separate women working out of the same gym who work in tandem each and every Thursday to kick my butt and motivate me (not necessarily in that order).  And while I've gone riding outside with The Trainer so many times that I've lost count (but who made her first blog appearance back in Feburary 2011), the spinning instructor has only joined the sisterhood once for a ride in the park (last July, 2011 when 5 of us headed out together).  However, this morning only the spinning instructor and I were free to head out to the park to test our legs against the steep climb of Pink Lake.

So as we woke to clear blue skies and dry roads, we confirmed our plans and met up at the bridge that spans the Ottawa River separating the province of Ontario (where we live) from the province of Quebec (where the park is located) and chatted away with each other as we rode into the park, battling a very strong wind that seemed to want to be both a cross wind and a head wind simultaneously (but never a tail wind...oh, no...that would be asking a bit too much).

Can you see the bridge in the distance, spanning the river?

When I last rode in the park and tested my legs against that Pink Lake climb (legs = 0, Pink Lake = 1), my thighs screamed, and I was surprised at how I just didn't fully remember how steep or long the climb was. However, through that pain, I did remember just how fun the descents are, and I did remember the sensation of fun on a bike...feelings that I had forgotten over the winter months.

That speck is the spinning instructor riding
towards me as I await her at the meeting spot.

This time, my legs were a little more springy and a little better able to cope with the hills.  In fact, as I topped the steep part of the Pink Lake climb and turned into the parking lot to take a drink and wait for the spinning instructor (a much shorter wait than I thought, only a handful of seconds really), she pulled up beside me, and after whoops, yahoos, and high-fives, she said, "okay, so I have an idea.  How about we turn around, ride back, and then ride back up one more time?"  I couldn't believe it!  Last year, the first time I did hill repeats riding up this climb in the park was sometime at the end of August...it's only April 4th and here we were, raring to go!

And off we went!

My cross bike (named Cross Eye) taking a breather by
the lake at the top of the climb (note:  the lake is now
melted, unlike the last time I visited it).

And you know what?  The second climb up that hill was actually better than the first.  The climb in total takes about 5 minutes (although it tends to feel a fair bit longer than that while riding), but the second time around it somehow just seemed to whizz by.  "Next time," she said with a smile and something mischievous in her eye, "we'll do four repeats!"

With that, we rode rip roaringly fast down the descent, and then rolled our way out of the park, past the spot where The Professor had her accident at the end of last season, over the bridge, and down the bike paths to our homes, smiling the whole way.

When I got home, I checked my bike computer to discover that I rode just under 50kms, with a maximum speed of 61.1km/hr...which, I might add, is higher than the 60km/hr speed limit in the park!

Not too bad for a lazy day in spring.

Over and out,
Joy