Rode out to Horseshoe bay, along the highway and then up Cypress. Made it all the way to the top without stopping!!! 52:19 (previous PB 5/9/08). Went up at max (like I had a choice, I have no smaller gears). Having an ipod helped a lot! and could that I was recovering faster. I reeled in and passed a woman on the way to first lookout which might have helped with the motivation to go faster. Alternated standing and sitting every once in a while to engage different muscles. It got really hard after the 3rd switchback to the 11km sign, but I made it. HR averaging 176 but I didn't feel like I was dying... probably because of the AC/DC on my ipod.

1st lookout: 14:59 (NEW PERSONAL BEST!!!) 268 watts
2nd lookout: 14:55 241 watts
11km sign: 12:00 233 watts
intersection at top: 9:06 223 watts
top of cross country: 1:19 289 watts

Burrard bridge to home was a struggle and decided to go up 4th/chancellor to avoid the beach crowds. Can't beleive I was able to ride up it so strong (avg 289 watts).

realized trying to focus on a powertap interval was psyching out my desire to climb cypress so just focused on making it to the top and turned the Powertap so I couldn't see what my watts were. Worked great!

So it was pretty much during those 52 minutes of sun shine and climbing I decided to go for my PhD and forgo the world of 9-5 a bit longer.  Well that's not quite the case.. I have to work in order to pay for my first year of the program.. then hopefully grant funding will apply. Things become clear at lactate threshold sometimes.

Kayaking... lots and lots of kayaking.

passed the second class and now I can take guests out. 

Which would you choose for the next 4 years? The real world of 9-5 or the PhD vow of poverty?

My head just wasn't on my bike and my legs were off. lots of mental games with myself. had fun the first lap. dropped on every corner though finally dropped bad and blew up the 3rd of 14 laps. I called it a day. the ride home was a struggle. Just writing it off as a bad day, having some chocolate milk and look towards the next ride.

swam first thing in the morning but wasn't really feeling it. cut it short and sat in the hot tub.

Kick ass bike ride today!!! Debated doing the crit but I really just wanted to ride my bike by myself and just push it. went out to iona an went for it. Averaged 270 against the head wind and 260 on the way back. rode back to ubc and watched a bit of the crit and then went for HILL REPEATS!

1st time, my gear/speed choice. i chose 34/23 average cadence around 81. watts 240

2nd time 50/ 15ish range and went to harder gears as the hill leveled out. Average cadence 45rpm. watts 244

3rd time. (the goal was to attach 20 seconds and rest 10). I ended attacking about 15 and resting 20-25. Switched between the big and small ring keeping the chain in the middle of the gears on the back but kept shifting to easier gears on the recovery as this one killed me! watts 242 (the graph looks pretty cool)

4th time. 38/25 and averaged 101rpm (also a killer). watts 230

5th time. the goal is to push it but I wanted to see how long I could climb standing. I made it up in 6:12. (I remember riding up it in 12 minutes and dying!) I danced from the start of the steepest section up and around the slight left turn and sat when it turned right. blew up and recovered for a bit and then attacked it to the top. watts 263

I was scared of this 5x workout my friend had told me to do. I totally wasn't sure i could do it and the most repeats I have ever done up this hill before was 3. But i ROCKED it!!! I actually think I didn't ride these hard enough as I still had some gas in the tank after, so I went back down and road up tolmie. And I am improving on that hill. I was able to stand longer and recover faster! YAY!

KICK ass!! and the sunset on Spanish banks was awesome. Totally mentally and physically needed this ride. I remembered why I love my bike! and i love my new DT swiss wheels and the powertap of course.