Roady'ing It

A couple times in the past two weeks I've taken my (well soon to be my) road bike out during lunchtime to get some riding in. Ute Valley Park is in the back yard of my work, but I've found that it has too much up and down to get good sustained climbing intervals in.
There are some pretty tough hills over on the Northwest side of Colorado Springs that I've started hitting so that I can work on climbing power and speed. I can make a 16.5 mile loop on the road in about an hour that includes some fairly intense sustained climbs.

The route is Delmonico Drive from the south intersection with Rockrimmon Blvd. north to Carlson Drive, then over to Woodmen Road. West (up) on West Woodmen Road up through the Peregrine area, turning right at the top of the climb onto Blodgett Drive for a bit more climbing, then back down to West Woodmen Rd. and turning south. Somewhere along the way, West Woodmen Rd. turns into Centennial Blvd. which I stay on over to Vindicator Drive. At Vindicator there are two options to provide more pain; turn right on Flying W Ranch Rd. and climb up and over the hill following it down to N. 30th Street; or continue straight on Vindicator to Chuckwagon Road where a right turn goes up to meet Flying W Ranch Road at the top of the hill.( The second option is a shorter, but steeper climb.) After getting to Flying W Ranch Rd, swing left (south) down to N. 30th Street. Left on 30th takes me back to Centennial Blvd, where I go left (north) and back over to Vindicator Dr. where I turn right (east) back to South Rockrimmon Blvd. A right on S. Rockrimmon takes me back to Tech Center Drive where I work, so the trip over.

I road this route yesterday at lunch after riding the Santa Fe trail the previous evening. I felt a little sluggish to start, but not too bad overall. I was wanting to work the kinks out of my legs from the previous evening's ride. After finishing up, I still felt pretty good, so I'm happy that my strength and endurance is improving.

I had wanted to repeat this ride at lunch today, but a rainy morning and threatening clouds have persuaded me to change my plans.

Hopefully tomorrow will provide a better opportunity.