Mt Gravatt Hill reps

Today was the second day of our gear ladders. Byron is our cycle coach and he will do the same session two weeks in a row so that we know it a bit better the second time around and we can give it a bit more effort. I quite like this, it seems to work well for me. I also have the advantage of not missing too many cycle sessions so I do end up getting the benefit of this style of coaching.

The geared ladder was the same as last week; 3 times up Mt Gravatt hill starting off in the easiest gear and 1 gear harder each time up. The third time up last week I had to flick down to an easier gear twice while going up as my cadence got too low and I was at risk of falling off! This time however I made it up without having to go down a gear. Very thrilled with that! My cadence was between 45 and 60 which is where Byron recommended it be.

And, it was raining and I rode in the rain! Luckily it didn't rain whilst we were doing Mt Gravatt, but when we regrouped down the bottom it started sprinkling and a cyclist came up to the intersection to turn into the street to go up the mountain and locked it up and skidded and took a big fall - it looked quite spectacular, it was very scary. Dad was first over to him and he was actually OK, I think because of the rain he slid rather than grabbed on the bitumen, so he didn't look as though he had any damage - he may just ride a bit more cautiously in the rain though!

As soon as this drama was over and we headed back to where we started the ride at Stones Corner it bucketed down! It was absolutely pouring, the type of rain where you can immediately feel the water trickling into your shoes. I was not really comfortable riding along on my 120psi tyres in peak hour traffic with traffic lights and man hole covers and painted lanes, etc. I rode cautiously that is for sure. I managed to keep up with the group, so my guess is that everyone else was riding cautiously also!

So, all in all I was quite happy with this ride. This is actually my last ride before the big day out at Goondiwindi. My bike will have to be cleaned up, it is filthy! Tomorrow nights job I think.