Stepping up...

This weekend a group of 6 of us women got together to for an early...really early...ride on the Compu Trainers at Peak to Peak Training Systems . They have opened a new facility down south...I live to the north of Denver and I've decided that everyone else lives down south.  The new location is at Orchard and Quebec. Which really at 4:30ish in the am only took me about 30 minutes so not to bad and it was quite a step up from my current set up.

 The garage...with the trash the old mattress the weight bench, punching bag and whatever other junk we can put in there. And on the early morning rides I do pretty chilly.

Now a look at the Peak to Peaks training room.

I'm clear to the right cut out of the photo...which I stole from their Facebook page 

While riding we watched, what else...triathlons. :) We did an almost  2 hour ride. It took a little longer to get started since most of us were new to this and had to have some explanations but it was very cool! We rode the CDA course. I know at least one of you who is thinking of doing this race and I believe 3 of the girls riding with us will be doing it this year. Not an easy course I must say. I made it over the first big hill during our 2 hours. 

My thoughts on the compu trainer... it is very cool all though when you are not a great rider the hills are a little a tough. I believe we were told that it functions best with speeds between 12 mph and 20something. Now while the first part of the course looks flat, it's not. The hills just aren't as long as those really big ones there. And when you hit the hills it is very noticeable. The first line across the top of the picture, below the elevation and part that tracks you,  there is the grade of the road you are riding. As you can see rider number one Kathleen is on her way up that second hill at a 7.1% grade. Several of the people are on their way up the hill at a 5.2 and anther rider and  (I'm rider #5) are in between at grades of  1-2 % . Now being my first time on these trainers I really didn't know what to expect but the hills they are tough. And if you can't go the optimal speed of 12-20 something mph it's even harder because your tire slips which makes it a little rough on the knees. I really had more problems on the shorter hills though than the long one. And lets face it you do have the added advantage of being able to just stop  and take a break without falling over. Not that I would do that or anything, I'm just saying..... :) And then the down hills, the downhills are nice but not nice like if you were out on the road. Instead of coasting at 35 mph downhill with no effort you still have to work pretty hard to go 20ish. All in all it was a really great workout! I got to meet some new people, have coffee with a couple of friends and talk triathlon, and best of all we plan to make this a regular thing. Not sure how often I'll be able to make it but heck we were all done by 8ish, most people are still having their first cup of coffee. It's a good way to start the day.