Relax those eyelids

Mandeville this week went a little better than last week. I made it halfway up this time before getting dropped, and then had a bit of an easier time keeping pace. On the second trip up, I had a good group of four that took turns pulling up the mountain. My heartreate was a lot better, and halfway up I felt pretty good. I remembered something from a book or a movie (can't remember which) where the advice was to try to relax your eyelids. This is, of course, ridiculous, but in the course of concentrating on doing this, you end up completely forgetting about the fact that you are riding up a mountain. So I was very strong right up unitl the last 200 meters, where the road gets insanely steep, and I fell off the pace.

Overall, I was very happy with my second week riding with LaGrange. The test will be when I get on the flat roads by myself. I'd like to see what I've gained in the past two months. What sort of speeds can I expect and at what HR and for how long. Only then will I know where I truly stand. Hopefully this weekend I will take the bike down to the OC and get it out on the open, nicely-paved roads and open 'er up...