Ben Nevis and Beyond

We are now in the build phase of our training program which consists of four week training cycles of increasing duration. Each week there is an increase in the mileage and duration of each activity until the fourth week when we have what is called a recovery week where we take things a little easier. The next cycle starts the following week with another step up. This week was supposed to be a recovery week. However, at times it didn't feel much like one. On Saturday we set off for a ride in the hills around Woodside, south of San Francisco. Our program called for a 2 hour hilly ride followed by a 30 minute trail ride. Our ride captain had other ideas. He offered us an enticing alternative 50 mile ride over the hills to the coast and back which most of the group opted to do. Well, that was until we tackled the first hill. After a 40 minute climb up Old La Honda Rd, most of the group decided that they would take the shorter route avoiding any further climbs. About 12 of us pushed on. The nice thing about big climbs is that you usually get a good decent to look forward to. This was no exception. The decent to the coast seemed endless depsite us maintaining an average speed over 25 mph. At one point, I managed to break 40 mph.
In the cycling world, what goes down usually has to go back up, and that is where the fun started. It took an hour at an average speed of about 6 mph to get back up to the top of the ridge. The road was essentially a series of endless switchbacks that climbed ahead of us for a far as you could see. It was also a single lane in a poor state of repair. Fortunately traffic was light which is just as well. After about 30 minutes my back started to ache. By 45 minutes I was ready to get off my bike and lay on my back but I foolishly battled on.
In all we climbed over 4500 feet. To help put this into perspective, Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK, is about 4400 feet high. Mt Diablo, the tallest mountain in the Bay Area is about 3800 feet. Check out the profile of the ride above.