Maximum Effort: Hungerford + Sky Stadium Crit 💥💥

Cruising recovery (3w/kg, 130HR)

Extra dose of suffering, all for the leaderboards

WHCS #5: Quick & dirty, the Southerly & Rainy edition

Evening Walk

150mg Caf / 800 Cals / >2L Water
NP 333W

The beautiful weather has arrived, time to get after it!
Torqevents.net/mad-dawg
TORQ Events 

Stage #2: Wrights Hill Revenge (5:23 - 520W)
- Started off with a light drizzle to keep things cool but this cleared quickly, found my legs were a bit sluggish climbing up Karori but hoped they'd come right once I really kicked it into gear.
- Dropped bottles and kit/food at the base, then sent it. Started perhaps a bit too hard, but found something of a rhythm and settled in to lower cadence standing on the steepest bits. Normally I'd sit more and power through, and I think I should've stuck to this as I hit the first car park and tried to pick up speed but legs were seizing hard.
- Had been hoping to hold closer to 540ish and hit that sweet 6w/kg, might give this one another crack seated more often and without the ridiculous ZRL race a few days before.

Stage #1: Ohariu Valley North (8:28 - 405W) - 35secs faster!
- What a difference not having a headwind (and a slight tailwind) make! Last week I'd averaged 70w more and still been over 35 seconds slower!
- Anyway I went into this one feeling a bit rough after the super hard first effort, decided at the start to try and hold 400W but keep going into the return to make it a longer threshold effort. Way out was quite nice, only stood a few times for the final pushes over the hills.
- Arriving at the turnaround, I mis-remembered my time from last week. I thought I must've previously done it in just over 7mins (with all the extra power I'd been pumping out), so when I saw 8:30ish I was like "not too mush slower for the easier effort, let's see how the return goes".
- Didn't have to fight the wind too much, got spun out a couple times but tried to keep the avg above 400w.
- Looking now I see I came within 3secs of the KOM for the out and back segment, if only I'd realize I definitely had more in me!

Stage #4: Horokiwi to Gate (18:12 - 415W)
- Linked through Jville and was starting to feel real good with the Sourtherly tailwind up towards Horokiwi turnoff. To match the earlier longer threshold along Ohariu, I set a target of 400W for the first part of the climb. Felt strong and the lack of headwind along the excavation bit was really nice.
- Hit the top with an avg 405W and had loads left in the legs (having been seated the whole way up). Started pushing a bit and managed to raise it to 415 by the time I hit the gate.
- No near misses today, flew down the descent but kept it controlled. Passed a handful of riders just starting their climb, sounds like they might've been out for a Mad Dawg as well!

Stage #5: Hungerford the hard way
- With my standing legs cooked, I was dreading this one. The cycle through town was pleasant and quick, hit the base facing the headwind (again lol) but got into a low gear early and just cranked it out as easy as I could.

Stage #3: Houghton Bay Climb (5:17 - 488W)
- The reason I took Hungerford easy was to be as fresh as possible (at this point) for Houghton. With a solid Southerly behind me, was keen to see how fast I could get it done!
- Settled into good power on the gentler slopes, but quickly realized that there must be some event on as the street parking was chokerblock. Got lucky in that descending vehicles stopped twice for me to slip through the one-lane gap up the street, but nearly got doored by some idiot.
- Once clear of that fuss, got back on the gas and hit the steeper section with all I had left. Was glad to have a long roll down the other side to let my legs recover.

Bit of a meandering route through town, couldn't decide if I wanted to add on distance or get home early. 

Bonus Climb(s): Old Wadestown Rd (~4:10 - 450+W) x4 
- Eventually made it almost home, but Garmin was reading sub-4hrs and under 100KMs for the day which didn't seem quite right for a proper "Mad Dawg" effort (was too efficient with the route this week 😅).
- Decided to push the climb and see what I had left. Ended up feeling great and hit the top just over 4mins, turned around and thought "can I hold that again?".
- This happened 3 more times, but only because I felt absolutely dialled in, energized and my legs kept responding (staying seated but torqueing it out).
- Finally called it after the 4th loop, finishing with an extra 30mins on the clock and ~400m of climbing for a proper Mad Dawg!

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Alexander Glenn

WHCS - Mad Dawg #2: Stunning conditions, legs strong & finishing in style! 💥

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Maximum Effort: Hungerford + Sky Stadium Crit 💥💥

Cruising recovery (3w/kg, 130HR)

Extra dose of suffering, all for the leaderboards

WHCS #5: Quick & dirty, the Southerly & Rainy edition

Evening Walk

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