I told Jess last night that I didn't think I should be doing the hill workout this morning. My legs are running on empty as I said yesterday, and doing hills at full effort isn't exactly what I would recommend. But my competitive juices were flowing and they just wouldn't allow me to miss out on this one.

When I pulled up to the Java Shack, only Jim McNeely and Kevin Gottlieb were there. And if they'd been the only ones to show, I think I would have taken the day off completely. But fortunately after a few minutes the crowd showed up. Tomas was back for more and this time we had the pleasure of riding with Brian Butts, a Cat. 2 racer from the Rockville Harley squadra. Looking him up today, I was amazed to learn that he won the road race stage at the Tour de Toona last year as a Cat. 2! In short, this dude can definitely climb. I'm really in awe of the guys he beat that day who are terrific at cyclocross: Gunner Shogren, Mike Hebe, and Kris Auer.

I'm always psyched for competition and I've been hoping to get someone in my regular workouts that can really push me hard. I think Butts will fit the bill on that one if he shows up for these rides regularly. By all accounts, he will, and I'm excited about that. I must say that I was a bit worried going into the ride today. Feeling like I'm not on top form and not knowing what I would get, I was just hoping not to get dusted.

We did exactly the same four long intervals as last week. On the first one, we started slowly, and I kept waiting for Brian to take the lead. But I went ahead with the interval and it wasn't long until he rolled up beside me. We were climbing stroke for stroke until he eventually pulled away just a bit at the end. I could feel the burn in my legs more than ever and in my head I was complaining about all the work I've done in the last week. On the next interval, Tomas was with us as well and going up the final steep climb, both he and Brian had a slight gap. The next interval was going by the golf course and ends with an absolute wall. I dub it the Muur de Marymount. I took the lead and topped all the hills first, but going up that wall at the end, Brian eased on by and I was left searching for a gear I could turn.

On the final interval, I wanted to give my best effort and see if I could win one. I led from the start and probably should have pushed the pace more in between the hills. But I was worried about running out of gas, so I was content just to ride with Brian between the hills. I topped all the hills first and then gave it my all on the last climb. I finally was able to hold him off as we were both crunching gears trying to find the right cog. I stopped a bit short of the finish (the parking lot), thinking he was sitting up, but it was nice way to end the workout.

I held my own today and I'm mighty proud of that. I've got plenty of work to do as the season progresses, but knowing that I'll have someone of Brian's caliber to ride after on Wednesday mornings is really great. With my goal for the end of the season being the Tour de Toona, who better to train with than the returning Cat. 2 champ?

We rolled back to the Java Shack going past Marymount and down the full length of Military Rd. I chatted briefly with Kevin Gottlieb. I'd expected him to be a factor today after his showing at camp, but he wasn't to be found on any of the intervals. He's only a HS frosh, and he was doing this today because he's on spring break. I think these short steep climbs expose his lack of physical maturity. But he's pretty tough when it comes to very long moderate climbs where you can get a rhythm and crank. Big things may come from this kid. He's got a great competitive spirit, so I know he wants to win.

After we made it to the Shack, I rolled over to Peter Nicoll's office to pick up my new HRM. It's absolutely sweet. I'm now a proud owner of a Polar S725. It will allow me to generate graphs of my HR, cadence, speed, and altitude over time. I can't wait to see what the hill workout looks like next week when I've got everything set up. This will also allow me to pass down my CatEye computer to Jess.