Top 10 Stability Ball Exercises You Shouldn't Attempt

None of the following exercises are recommended by the manufacturer, no matter what your personal trainer from 24 Hour Fitness tells you.

1. The Welcome-Home
2. The Gotta-Get-To-Work
3. The Batman
4. The Batsman
5. The De-Cleater
6. The Stoners
7. The Wall
8. The Picnic
9. The Climber
10. The Ambush

The OC

26.3 miles
14.1 mph average speed
1:52 total time

Up and over Terwilliger, down through Lake O and West Linn, across the
OC bridge, then back on the east side on river road.

Sent from my iPhone

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

Mt Tabor and Rocky Butte

I love my little two butte ride. Just about 90 minutes (usually less) and I get maybe 25 minutes of climbing. Head north along 52nd, then go up and over Tabor, then head down Yamhill to 75th, which takes you to Tillamook. From there, you're pretty much at the foot of Rocky Butte. Get to the top, circle the castle, then do it backwards.

Oh, the photo was of Doug Ollerenshaw of Rock Racing during the Mt. Tabor Crit stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic. Cool, huh? He had one really bad-ass attack where he was storming across the gap at the top of the course, and I just got lucky with the camera. Bon voyage, Doug! Congrats on heading back to school!

The West Hills Go On Forever

I do not climb like a cycling god. Rather, I climb like a fat man who needs to spend a little less time with the beer and cheese making, and a little more time in the saddle.

Paul and I met up Thursday after work, and went up Lovejoy to Thompson to Skyline. I remember it from my fitter days as a long hill: painful but not too awful. My God, I used to climb that thing with an 11-23 straight block cassette. Yesterday, I climbed it with a 12-27 cassette — a frickin' frisbee back there, a damn granny gear — and I still had to ice my back and knees when I got home.

On the other hand, I can still suffer with the best of them. I climbed pretty much the whole way, other than that flat section before you get to Thompson, with my heart rate around 181.

I wonder if that's even healthy?

And that long, straight, heart-breaking stretch at the top of Thompson? The one where it gets impossibly steeper? Where a sign says, "Stop in 500 feet" and you think to yourself, "there's no way they didn't measure this wrong"? The part where you can see all the way up to the top and it just NEVER SEEMS TO GET ANY SHORTER?

Yeah, I was at like 186 for that whole thing. I can't believe I didn't throw up.

I'm hoping for a long, flat ride this weekend. Just maybe do the Oregon City ride. Though I need to take the bike over to Bike Gallery to get it tuned. I think the new Fat-Ass Cassette is making the old chain a little cranky and creaky.