Picked up my bike at the shop (getting a new chain) and figured I might as well ride from there, and if I was going to ride from there obviously I ought to go up
Mt. Holyoke. Next step in hill training in preparation for Lincoln Gap (which, realistically, may never happen, but then again it might). Mt. Holyoke has one short steep part (18%?). The overall is nothing special, averages about 7 or 8%.
A nice ride over to warm up, with a good headwind to keep me cool, so I turned off 47, started my watch, and headed up with no delay. And also with no desire for a hard effort, keep the pulse in the 150s instead of the 160s.
The steep part seemed no problem, though I was thinking at that moment that 25 to 30 minutes on such a grade, or maybe a little steeper, might not be a whole lot of fun. But this one passed quickly and before long I was at the top. 19:51 to the end of the parking lot. Done it twice before, 19:15 and 18:38, so the decay is not too bad.
And then the real pleasure. The road has been repaved since I was last there. I'm sure it helped on the way up. It was really nice on the way down, even though, with a bunch of sharp curves I was on the brakes most of the time. Let it go on the steep section because it was straight, but there was a 90-degree turn right after. The disc brakes are sweet.
Next hill to try should probably be
Monroe Hill Road. That one is definitely harder, but still has spots to recover.