After I finished putting the mountain bike gearing on Anne’s bike, I headed out on my bike with the new compact crank I installed yesterday to climb Squaw Peak.  That is a hill of about 1,700 feet of climbing that is less than 5 miles from our Utah home.  With a total of 4.3 miles distance, the grade is not too bad, except at the top, where it gets well in excess of 10%.  I was able to set a new PR.  The compact crank was not really a factor during most of the climb since I had a couple of gears left, but at the top I went to the lowest gear and was able to keep up the cadence to a reasonable level compared with my double crank where this portion was a “grind it out” job.  I kept my heart rate in the 158-162 range for most of the climb, but let it go into the 170′s during the last half mile.

Categories: Speed Workout
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