SHWIT

Last fall, a teammate of mine started a series of training rides he called SHWIT - Steep Hills With Isaac Training. The SHWIT ride made an early comeback Sunday.

I rode with Isaac from his house in Longmont to the Ziggy's coffee shop where we picked up a few more riders. From there, we embarked on a hill climbing festival. We started by riding to Boulder and doing Lee Hill. From Lee Hill, we descended into Left Hand Canyon and then climbed over Old Stage. After Old Stage, we took another trip up Lee Hill. Finally, we descended down into Boulder and then tackled Sunshine Canyon all the way up to Gold Hill. (For those of you at our wedding, Sunshine Canyon is the one you drove into Boulder from the ceremony in Gold Hill.) After some rough and chilly descending into Boulder, we stopped at Breadworks for some chocolate croissants and espresso before heading back to Longmont. We had up to 8 riders at one point. By the time we headed up Sunshine, it was down to 3.

From Isaac's house, it was about 85 miles and 8800+ feet of climbing. I was never going all out on the hills, but I still feel pretty worked. That final climb up Sunshine was killer. It was more of a strength workout than cardio. The dirt portion of the road gets steep and I was just trying to keep turning the cranks over.