Intervals
On the plate today for my morning ride was intervals, seven of them to be exact. The goal was to be at my threshold power level for 3 minutes and then 2 minutes at 50% threshold power. I went out to the hill behind Twin Creeks to perform the intervals. The hill isn't big, only a 1/2 mile in length, I wouldn't consider it a leg buster. I thought it would be a good way to achieve my training goal for the day though. There were spots where it was impossible to keep my power at my threshold power due to the steepness. I did shift all the way down to the triple to stay in the power range.
On the 4th effort as I was going down the hill there were 3 cyclists going up. On my way up for my 5th interval I passed 2 of them the 3rd was reaching the top as I was at my 3 minute mark and turning around just short of the top. The 3 person group came back down the hill and went back up. I passed them again on my 6th effort. I finished up with my last interval and headed home. Just past the Twin Creeks Country Club I caught up to the group again and flew by at around 24 mph. Each time I passed them I thought of BikeNoob and his smoke'n the old guy posts. It topped off a good workout to still have enough juice in the legs to smoke somebody let alone smoke them twice up a hill.
Tonight after dinner I headed out for another ride. I headed out on Cypress Creek to Parmer. I was warned by another cyclist that there was a strong wind coming from the South. Of course heading North on Parmer towards Leander I was hitting speeds of 28 - 30 mph on the flats. I usually turn around or head over to Georgetown on 2243. This time the road construction on Parmer heading North was open so I kept going. I was running out of daylight so I didn't get to explore the entire length of Parmer, I'll have to come back another day.
Once I turned around it was a strong wind. My speeds dropped from 28 down to 18 - 20 mph heading back.