Biking - Uphill and down

After yesterday's eye-opening attempt at the Lake Desolation climb, I've decided that although I apparently have plenty of distance in these legs, and can also hammer up short climbs and rollers, I really need to work on climbing longer steeper stuff. With the next several afternoons expected to be HOT HOT HOT, and also potentially committed to working, it seems like a good time to take on some shorter rides in the mornings that involve some climbing. There's plenty of that to be had by heading either north or south up out of the Mohawk River valley, so today was hopefully the first in a series.

Today, I tackled Rector Road from the Exit 26 park-and-ride. The climb itself is 1.6 miles, 485 feet, averaging 5.7% but kicking up to 11% in a couple of spots. Somewhat surprisingly, this went rather well, taking under 15 minutes, and never hitting my lowest gear. I added on a few miles afterwards to make this outing worth it, and felt pretty strong pushing a hard pace back along Vley road to the car. Next on the list: probably Washout Road, a little longer.