The New Year started with a pickleball session, after we drove back from Princeton, where we celebrated New Year's Eve.
Tuesday marked the first NCC Hill Climb race of the year. Since Paula and I were driving to Boston later that day, I rode it earlier. I felt strong and attacked the relatively short climb for as long as I could, riding 40 seconds around 350 watts and then 20 seconds standing. I slowly but surely started to fade in the 5th minute, but after a brief recovery, I was able to push again. I finished the 1.87-mile segment up Box Hill in 7:37 with an overall average of 326 watts. For the longest time, I thought I was the fastest, but later it turned out I was beaten by 2 other club members.
Afterward, we drove to Boston and went for a brief walk along Boylston Street before picking up Paula's sister at Logan Airport.
The next day, we went for a long walk, first across the Charles River to MIT and its museum, and then back via Beacon Hill and Newbury Street.
After arriving in Conway the following day, we showed Annique, my sister-in-law, around Conway with an almost 3-mile walk. In the evening, I joined my NCC teammates for a race in Zwift. It was a 16-mile race through London. I was able to stay with the lead group until Leith Hill at mile 7. I averaged 286 watts over the first 20 minutes and was hence rewarded with a new FTP of 273 watts. On the hill, I averaged 273 watts over 15 minutes, followed by a short downhill to the finish. I finished 32nd in the B category. That was hard.
On Friday, the three of us hiked up Mount Sugarloaf in Deerfield. It's a short but steep climb, rewarded with a great view of the Connecticut River.
We started Saturday morning with a pickleball session. Awaiting the snowstorm overnight, I did a fat bike ride on the still snow-free trails in the now hunter-free Conway forest. I rode 8.5 miles in 1.5 hours, recording some GoPro and drone footage. The drone had some trouble following me as there was no sun, and probably because I was wearing a black jacket. In the end, I only got one short drone shot.
Overnight we got the first snowstorm of the year and spent all morning cleaning the driveway, followed by another pass in the afternoon. After we finished, we took some tubes and sledded down the hill at the Conway soccer field.
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