Headwinded

Today's riding was, well, sufficient. Not great compared to my (maybe lofty) expectations but not terrible either. I ended up getting a nice ride in at lunch to spin out my legs and they were feeling much better than yesterday. Last night I had intended to do my hill repeats up the Wall but between working late and just not being fully recovered from the weekend I postponed them when I got home. I was just not feeling it. Tonight I had to work late too but this time I was prepared with an Ensure Plus in the fridge at work. I got out of the office with just enough daylight to get in my repeats. After calling Marni to let her know I'd be home after dark, I rode out to the Wall. The schedule called for 6 repeats under 3 minutes. I hid my backpack under the guardrail and descended down to the starting point. Already I was nervous. On the descent I hit 50mph without coasting, something I don't normally do on this hill. Undaunted I turned around and pounded out the first repeat anyway. OUCH. Climbing this hill all out is not exactly a cake walk on a good day and today there was a great southern headwind torturing me all the way up. After the first repeat I knew 3 minutes was out the window and I just tried to keep them consistant...and under 4 minutes. One by one I hit the lap counter and as the sun set behind the mountains I saw 5 on my watch. Looking inside myself I dug deep and knocked out one more, earning the right to hit the button and see the number 6 appear. I rolled in my granny gear back to my bookbag and dug out my long sleeve jersery. The sun was setting fast now and it was getting cold. The wind blew hard out of the south and I began my cool down ride home. 40 miles, 6 times up the Wall and another ride in the books. Perfect workout or not, it's great to ride.