hill work

from what i understand, there might be a hill or two on the IMMOO course;) now i know that the race is still 15 months away, but the weather's been beautiful and i was feeling motivated, so i thought i'd try a little hill training.
as i've mentioned, there's not an overabundance of hills here, but there is one Pretty Damn Steep (PDS) hill about 6 miles away. so, sunday afternoon, after doing a 15 mile ride with andrew and nathan, i set off to Old Paris Road, past Pumpkin Works, and came across my training partner. it's about 3/4 mile long, has a fairly sharp curve, and, like i said, is PDS. i don't know how to measure % grade or anything like that, but it'll suffice for my needs. the first time i trekked up it, i hit it pretty hard. i was out of the saddle for a while and was fairly winded by the time i hit the top. i turned around, coasted down, and went up again. surprisingly, i didn't feel that much worse the second time. the third ascent was more difficult. in all, i went up that thing five times. by the time i reached the summit the fifth time, i was toast.
i spun easily for a couple of miles before turning to go home. on the return home, i was looking forward to cranking down that hill for the last time. it was on this hill two years ago that i reached my fastest speed ever on the bike - 52mph. i usually hit 35 - 40mph if i just coast down it, but i thought maybe i'd like to break that record.
the beginning of the descent is not too steep and is a good place to gain some speed. and i did just that. unfortunately, there was a car coming up behind me. hmmm.. decision time. do i let it pass me, but in the process slow down and ruin all the fun of the descent, or do i hammer it and stay ahead of the car? because this hill has a curve on the steepest section, i can actually go faster on it than a car can. i started to hammer it, but the car came up too fast. he was just past me as we started the steep curvy section. i hit it, and closed the gap on the car to about 10 yards when i decided to slow down because i didn't want to get any closer. i managed to hit 48mph. i could see the driver's face in his rearview mirror. man did he look surprised to see a guy on a bike come up behind him because he was going too slow down a hill! heh.

buying a decent road bike: $1000
shoes, pedals, and accessories: $250
the facial expression of a Common Man glancing in his rearview mirror as i get ready to pass his car while riding a bike at nearly 50mph: priceless

folks, it's moments like this that make all the work worth it.