TRAINING GOALS

1.  Hard efforts on the climbs

2.  A century or at least 6 hours

3. Tempo and Threshold work

4. Climb WITH aerobars installed

5. Time in aerobars

THE BIKE

Felt F2 with Di2, SRM power meter, 53/39 crankset and 11-25 cassette

THE ROUTE

UP and DOWN hills of Santa Monica

Topanga Canyon, Old Topanga, Stunt Rd, Mullholand Hwy and Latigo Canyon.

THE RIDE

98 miles 9,900 feet of climbing

Garmin Download here

It was hot even though I was just off the coast.  On one of the climbs, Stunt Rd., new top coat was being laid down on the right side of the road.  It made it really sketchy because I had to climb either right next to the cones, in the center of the lane, or on the left hand shoulder.  As I mentioned earlier, it was hot already and now the new pavement was giving off even more heat– or so it seemed.  The only good thing about climbing Stunt Rd was knowing there was a water stop up the road.  At EXACTLY mile marker 3.61 there is a water fountain in front of a residence.  It has a drinking spout and a spigot to fill your bottles.  It is very nice of that resident to provide water for us– Thank you!!

Tuna Canyon was a FUN descent– super twisty! The last climb of the day was Latigo Canyon.  It was my first time up Latigo and I liked the climb the only problem was that I already had 7,000 feet on my legs.  I had done a lot of surges and sprints on the climbs throughout the day.  And of course it was hot and I was getting dehydrated.

It was amazing how much cooler it was once I reached the coast.  Then with the aid of a tailwind I boogied back from Latigo Canyon to Channel where the car was parked.  A good day of climbing at intensity, some flats and some heat.

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