Bring on the Hills

Anytime I don't want to go for a long ride but I still want to get a good workout in, I head for the hills. High Park is very close and it has a nice little route to do some repeats on. I didn't get away until after dinner so the ride was from 10pm to midnight. No one was around but the mercury dropped substantially.

Starting at the Queensway and heading North on Ellis brings you to the first climb. Starts out very gradual, steepens in the last half and levels out just before the turn. Then it's a very fast, sweeping downhill curve that bring you to the base of the next climb.

This climb is very short but super steep. There's also a switch back halfway up that brings you to the steepest part of the interval. The interval ends when you crest the final bump and get back up to speed on Bloor St. The "off" section of the interval follows the ring road in the park and all the way back down to the starting point. The "on" portion is only 2km long so it's a hard effort, around 80-90%. My HR max is 200 so the first climb I'm around 180 bpm and close to 190 on the second. The last 3.2km of the route are very easy. Workout was 2 sets of 3 reps each.

The elevation profile of the final climb. Maxes out at a 20% grade. Mercifully, it's very short.

Rattlesnake point is still the king of hills around here.