Sitting here watching the Tour de France while Cadel Evans is flying up beyond category(HC for Hors Category) mountain climbs puts my evening ride into perspective. Nonetheless I thought my hill ride tonight was rather challenging with a 3rd and 4th category climb. This week has been chock full of some high intensity training and the stiffness in my legs are testament to that. As I headed out on my warm-up ride down Mertztown Road, I was wondered how I would perform on the route I had planned. I have a love-hate-love relationship with doing hills. I love the thought of doing them. I hate them when I am on them and love it when they are over.
The first hill of the evening was up Schlossberg Road. Schlossberg Road is a short but steep little climb but not categorized. The worst part about it is the oil & chipped false flat section of road that leads up to it. This section just sucks the life out of me. I frequently ride this part at the end of most of my rides and it kills me. The Schlossberg climb was a little rough to start, but it cleared some of the stiffness from my quads. I thought it would be a good warm-up for what was to come. My ranking on this climb is only 21st which is not that impressive. Got a long way to go on this one.
After little downhill and steady up Mountain Road, I made a hard left turn up Hensingersville Road. The start of this Category 3/4 climb is really steep and can almost seem like you are hardly moving then it levels out and gives you a little rest. The next uphill is very gradual at first but then increases in grade as you reach the top. The climb up to the stop sign at State St. is a category 4, but if you go up to the intersection at Benfield Road which adds a couple nice more steep climbs to it becomes a Category 3. So of course I rode it out to Benfield because I just can’t get enough! I am actually ranked 8th on this climb, which surprised the crap out me.
My original plan was to ride Benfield road out to Huff’s Church, pick up Dogwood down the mountain and up Centennial. As I cruised down Dogwood though I noticed what a nice consistent climb that was. I thought it would be around a Category 3, but found out later it is only Cat 4. Instead of doing Centennial, I rode back up Dogwood Road which was quite challenging. There seems to be no flatter parts to give you a chance to flush out some Lactic Acid(Lactate actually). It just keeps climbing the whole time. It is also very shaded and minimal traffic too. Have to keep this one in mind for future hill climb rides. One other note is that Huff’s Church Road, which runs along the top of these climbs is also nice too and has been recently paved. I really didn’t think the a-holes at PennDot actually pave roads anymore. They just oil and chip everything, even crappy roads. Anyway I even managed to tie for 8th on this climb. Not too bad for my first run up it.
I am now glad that is over with. Looking forward to some Zone 2/LSD workouts over the weekend. Hope it isn’t as hot as last weekend!
