ANOTHER HILL RIDE POST

     If I weren't so lazy, I'd look up exactly when I switched from a compact to a triple in order to get up Courtyard and Jester without stopping.  My best guess is 8-10 years ago.  Once in the triple, I then moved to a bigger cog, then to a smaller little ring.  It's all blogged, but really not germane to this one, other than after 10 years, I switched back to a double ring.
     As it stands now, my carbon Emonda with a compact crank and 11-30 cogset is about five pounds lighter than my titanium Roark with the triple, due mostly to the wheels and tires.  In any case, last week I thought I'd try getting up Courtyard on the Emonda, mainly because I didn't feel like switching the Stages power crank.  According to Sheldon Brown's calculator, I'm about one and a half gears short on the Emonda.  I speculated that because of the weight, I could successfully power up the hill.
     It was a struggle, but I managed to get up and over both Courtyard and Jester.  Today I did it again, so it wasn't a one-off ride.  Admittedly, today I was assisted by a stout south wind.  But there are some differences between then and now, other than being ten years older, although there is a connection..  Back then, and even with the triple, it took one gear less on Jester than Courtyard.  Now I'm using all the gears on both hills, and Bluegrass for that matter.  Also, I used to stand in the pedals to power up the last ramp on Courtyard.  Now I'm seated the whole way.  I am somewhat mystified by the lack of power on the climbs. I thought I was doing the best I could, but was hanging around 240-260 watts.  I would have thought I'd be doing 300-330.  Toward the end of the ride I hit 398 going up Lost Horizon.  I guess I need to monitor the power more closely next time and see if I can't exert myself.
     The main reason for doing this ride is to give my heart a good workout.  Courtyard always brings me to my maximum.  Until last year I never exceeded the Courtyard reading.  When I first started keeping HR data, my max was 169.  After a few years it started to slowly drop.  The highest it has been this year is 156, at the Driveway.  Racing at the Driveway has supplanted Courtyard for bringing out my highest HR, but since that has been curtailed for the interim, I've reverted.  So far, the best I've done there is 153.  I suspect it is a confidence thing, and I'll set my Garmin to showing HR and Power and see what happens.  Check back so see how that goes.