The Verdict is In: Final Benchmark Ride

The final Benchmark Ride was this past weekend. We first rode 100 miles on Saturday, and then got up earrrrrly on Sunday to ride our 45 miles of hills, the same ride that we did in February and March. The ride with "three" hills. I think "three" is some fancy clycing language for "lots." Everything went along quite well until we started going up a hill that I thought was a minor hill, because we hadn't turned onto the street with the biggest hill, but then it just kept going, and it just kept getting steeper. The more I thought about the biggest hill that was still coming, and how I couldn't really get my head into climbing this "minor" hill, the harder I was breathing. I started to panic a little. Hyperventilated a lot. When I got to the 'top' of the first part, which is the bottom of the second part, I stopped tried to stand on my shaky legs and control my breathing again.
It was odd to be so out of control, especially during pretty arduous physical activity where I had just a few moments before been in control of myself. I took a minute there to reset the circuits and then hopped back in the saddle to take the next hill. That little breakdown was oddly cathartic. The rest of the day went well, and from the first time we rode this loop in February to this past Sunday, I took 10 minutes off my riding time. Pretty cool. Add to that feeling stronger and better on the bike, and you have a great success.
The point of the Benchmark rides are to see how we'll do on the big Ride in May. I think we're all going to make it.
Hard to take photos on these sorts of rides, but maybe next week in Chico.

Why not follow that weekend up with something better? Or if not better, than at least bigger. Here's the elevation profile for the Chico Velo Wildflower Century:


That's 4300 feet of climbing.

Three words: Bring it on.