Some say its called the 'Ladder' others say its the 'W', I say it hurts.

So today my training resumed. I had taken a small break which the initial week was planned with a brilliant trip to Chicago and Escanaba for a family wedding which was great. However, the cold which I got as I returned was not in the plan and meant on top of the sub-zero temperatures that there had been no bike riding since 26th November which was nearly a full month off the bike. I can vouch for the effect such a hiatus has on your cycling performance especially when it comes to climbs.

So todays route went towards Avening and then my ride buddy today suggested to do the medium route which extends to Nailsworth and takes you up the Ladder or W climb which is 0.76 miles with an average gradient of 9.4 % and maximum Gradient at 15%. I reached the bottom of the climb with 27.4 miles in my legs so not totally fresh. Needless to say, I did not beat my one and only previous attempt and was nearly a minute slower on the climb so something to work on.

What it did highlight was that in order to complete the entire Fred Whitton I need to build some serious climbing legs so looks like a lot of hill work to be done going forward. So the next 19 weeks are going to be so important.

Thanks for reading and have a very Merry Christmas.