#8: Test Yourself
If you have a goal, you need to find ways of testing where you are in achieving what you set out to accomplish. I wanted to be able to survive the massive climbs in California. But in Boston all we have are little hills. It’s impossible to simulate a 10- mile hill at a 12% grade.
I found the steepest hill I could (Summit Avenue in Brookline, about a mile from my house) and began doing sets riding up and down the same hill multiple times on the clock. By the end of my training I was doing 15 hills in sets of 5 with 2 minutes of rest between each set. That took an hour and a half of straight climbing, and totaled three thousand feet of ascent, more than any one of the single ascents in LA. I still had the downhill to rest, so it wasn’t the same. But parts of my workout hill were brutally steep. So I felt sure I was as ready as I was going to get.
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—Photo Digammo/Flickr
I’ve run marathons, been really into yoga for years, and tried my hand at the martial arts. But I finally settled on road bike riding because it’s easy on my old man joints, a bunch of my friends are into it, there’s plenty of gearhead stuff to think about, and it combines tough aerobic activity with a great view. I have friends who swear by tennis, swimming, and even golf. Regarding the skintight cycling clothing. It is amazing how men can now only wear such clothing if the clothing has ‘clear utility’, otherwise the clothes now are ‘only for women’… Read more »
Esta excelente la retórica que se asocia directamente a la catarxis aunque en apariencia pertenece al estereotipo satanizado de macho. Esta muy simpático y crea camaradería. Un abrazo.