Tuesday was the first hill climb of the NCC TT series. We raced from Leverett to Shutesbury along Shutesbury Road. I had parked the car at Cushman's in Amherst and used the 2 miles to the start to warm up. After the group of about 12 racers started, I was quickly left behind with a few other riders and soon rode by myself.
After a half mile, I saw David and Melissa about 100 meters ahead of me, and I seemed to close in. But halfway, Melissa took off and David accelerated; I did not want to look back to see if someone was close. After the finish, it turned out I had a decent gap. I finished in 19:43 with an average wattage of 284 watts, which means my outdoor FTP is about 273 watts.
The next morning, I did my regular 2+ mile run, and in the afternoon, I played pickleball. I had to cut it short to attend an NCC ride leader meeting. I volunteered to lead a gravel ride. I call it the NCC Thursday Hilltown Gravel Series. Every week, it starts in Conway, but also in other hill towns.
On Friday, I joined Walter, Gary, and Dusty for a Gentlepersons ride. With a nice conversational pace, it was a good recovery ride.
The next day, I played some more pickleball. What was really cool was that I was able to do an Around The Post (ATP) shot. That means I was able to take a wide ball and not hit it over the net but along the outside of the post onto the court.
On Sunday, as a prep for the first Hilltown gravel ride, I rode the route and then made a small adjustment to climb up Pleasant Street instead of Maple, as the left-hand turn would be easier and safer.
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