I got out for about 30 miles on the bike today. I was hoping to at least double that, but I had to go in to work for an afternoon meeting. Something I think I've known for a long time, but didn't really materialize in my head until today is that hills should be your friend. I've hated or avoided courses with hills for years for the want of a better time. Since moving to Brooklyn, I've been running a lot of bridges and I've noticed myself doing much better at running uphill when I hit the park. I've also notice that my legs are much stronger on the bike when climbing. The other thing I've noticed is that I'm blowing by people when I'm running/riding uphill.
Basically what surfaced today was this:
The race is won uphill. Anyone can run/ride flat or downhill. Pace through the flats, let gravity do its work on downhill, and blow people away uphill.
I blew by a guy climbing the hill in Prospect Park today. I stayed ahead of him for awhile as I took it (somewhat) easy on the downhill letting my legs rest a bit and letting gravity do the work for me. He started hammering and passed me, but by the time we got back to the hill, he was toast. He wasted his energy trying to hammer downhill at probably 33 mph, while I "took it easy" at about 30 mph. But on the uphill, I was climbing at 16+mph whereas he was probably under 10 mph.
I'm loving hills these days. Learn how to use them to your advantage.
On my way home, I got hopelessly lost in the throws of Brooklyn b/c I decided to try and find a faster way home. The good thing is that if you know a few major roads you can eventually find your way home.
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