Portland's West Hills the Easy Way

I used to climb to Council Crest in about 18 minutes from Terwilliger and Westwood (including the roundabout on Fairmount). Yesterday took me 24 minutes. And the fact that I was cruising and not pushing gives me a little hope.

I'm not strong — there's no doubt about that. But I'm definitely improving. A two-hour ride that included two trips up Terwilliger (from downtown, not from Lake O) left me feeling, dare I say it, "good."

Unlike my last foray up to the top of Portland's West Hills, I did most of my climbing BELOW the 181 BPM mark. Not way below that, mind you. It's not like I was in my aerobic zone. The steep stretch right before Fairmount shot my heart rate up to 178 (that was the max on my Polar when I got home), but otherwise, I kept it around 170 on the steep parts, and under 164 on Terwilliger's gentle rolls.

The granny gear probably helped, eh?

STATS

• Distance: 27.5 miles
• Time: 2'10"
• Avg. Speed: 12.5 mph
• Max Speed: 34 mph (I LOVE bombing down Vista.)
• Avg. HR: 148 bpm
• Max HR: 178 bpm
• Time above Zone 1 (157 bpm): 51 minutes