The climb from Bellinzona

I finally got around to loading GPS data from last weakend's trip to Bellinzona. Nothing particularly new, but I did discover how to analyze sections of a ride with Ascent, a mapping and ride-logging application I've been using since January. There is a 3-mile climb from the plain of Bellinzona to Monte Cerino with a gain 1072 feet, at an average gradient of 6.7%. That climb took me 25:44, at an average speed of 7mph. I don't know whether that's reasonably good or embarrassingly slow, but now that I have a baseline reading for spring, I can compare my performance later in spring and in summer. If I manage to ride longer and more often, I should get faster.

There was no real ride this weekend, because I'm still on a booted tire that could give up at any point. I did, however, do a set of 5 repeats up via Tassino. I was feeling sluggish and wasn't very motivated to do it, but I felt (and feel) better afterward, so I'm glad I did.

via Tassino is about 0.3 miles, with about 105 feet of gain from bottom to top, average gradient about 7.8%. Ideally I'd do drills on a bit longer hill, but the proximity to home (about a block) and lack of traffic makes it pretty attractive. It's enough to get in a short, hard workout, when a longer ride is impractical.