A windy Boulevard 150 (28/06/2014)

I have never spent much time at the Boulevard, but whenever I head out that way I always jump at the opportunity, to have a go.  I had headed there the previous week, and there was really crappy weather forecasted for the Saturday with very high winds.  I usually head up to the Dandenong’s on windy days, but had spent so much time up there over the past year that I was really wanting a change.  The Yarra Boulevard is one of those rare places that suits both climbers and sprinters, and feels like a race circuit, and can be sheltered from the winds in the most part.

I wanted to get a long distance ride in, but should have known better than to be able to pace myself on the Boulevard.  I tried to set a comfortable tempo, but on the Boulevard you always feel like going hard.  I arranged for my mate Geert the vert to come down early on and introduced him to the Boulevard, and we did several hours together.  I got to the hundred ok, but started to slow down after then.  Chris Cox showed up, which coincided with me dying, and did a couple of slow laps with him.  I should have pulled the plug, but was eyeing off a 150km.  I had enough of pushing on the Boulie into the wind, and opted to finish doing laps of Yarra Street.  I know pushing a hill which peaks at over 16% is crazy to do when you’re totally exhausted, but guess I’m more comfortable climbing when exhausted, than doing the Boulevard.

I felt completely spent at the end of this session.  I managed 2,500 vertical and a couple of dozen PB’s.  The weather all week had been so bad I had to spend it on my indoor training.

Here is a link to my Strava Activity here:

https://www.strava.com/activities/158961120