I did a great Emmett Horseshoe Bend Loop today with Ted and Mark. We started out just chatting and getting warmed up. When we hit Highway 16, Ted and I started rotating at a good clip. We rode through Emmett fairly easy, then picked up the rotation again on Highway 52 in Black Canyon.

By the Sweet/Ola turn-off (the mid-way point of the loop) Ted was still taking strong pulls but I started thinking about the Old Horseshoe Bend Hill. I eased up a bit, taking shorter pulls, then we stopped in Horseshoe Bend for a bathroom and water break.

We agreed we’d all regroup at the top of the climb so no need to stay together. Ted was going at a strong tempo even before the turn-off for old road. It felt hard, but I always need some time after a stop to get my system going again. So I dropped back and followed my standard practice of timing the climb from cattle-guard to cattle-guard.

When I hit the cattle-guard I passed Ted and he got on my wheel. I was aiming to keep my initial wattage at 280-290. Ted was on my wheel for a little bit, but a little while later I noticed he was gone. Looks like I wouldn’t have any external motivation for this climb!

I slowly increased my pace as the climb progressed, not really paying too much attention to my power meter. By the breaks in the road (at about halfway), I could tell I was in for a good time. As I approached the top I started picking it up even more and checked my average wattage…it was at 307 watts. So I really cranked the last minute with a VO2 effort and got it up to 310 by the second cattle-guard! This gave me my fastest time 25:30 since they chip-sealed the road a few years ago (and made it much slower). Not bad! For the record, my best time was 23:28 with an average of 331 watts in 2003. That was when I was in my best climbing shape ever.

I turned around and went down the hill to catch up with the other guys. We rode easy to the top then Ted bombed the downhill and I just hung on. My legs were toast by this point so while I was rotating with him on the false flat and by the golf course, they were short pulls. It was a great ride and everyone got a great workout in.