Squeezed in Sunday Hills Ride

I decided I couldn't possibly have two days off the bike in a row so managed to squeeze in a Sunday morning effort out to the hills before the final stage of the Tour Down Under. Still managed to enjoy an ascent up Welshpool Rd at just over 20 km/h for a second best time. I did manage a PR on the first rise to the service station with a 17 km/h average - which just happened to be equal to that of AP. Had I known that I would probably have given it all I could to complete the climb faster than him.

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Continued on out to Pickering Brook for a couple of circuits around the WCMCC course to see how I would hold up with some stronger efforts after climbing Welshpool Rd. The air was so thick with humidity it was difficult to keep pace and felt I really had to work in order to keep a pace that was not even close to what we race at.

I was happy that I had managed a 31.8 km/h average for the entire ride of over 63 km which would definitely be a personal best for me during a hills ride. Plenty of calories burned with an average heart rate in excess of 78% of max.

I managed to get home in time to take Kathy out for a ride out to Canning Bridge and back (30 km) at about 19 km/h average. This was a great effort for Kath given she has not been on the bike for some months.

Of course, the only way to finish the morning was to relax in front of the TV and watch the final stage of the Tour Down Under. Congratulations Simon Gerrans on a fantastic Tour result and to the GreenEdge team for a dream debut on the UCI World Tour.