Big day

The Vitus!
Saturday mornings I take a new Victoria tri club out for a group ride. They're called the Island Triathlon Club - or as I like to call them "I trick." This would be my third Saturday with the gang. The previous three Saturdays all were witness to some extremely ugly days. We got snowed on one time and never did the temperature get above 3 degrees (37 for my Southern friends). Last week I ended up with a flat. Changing a tube with frozen hands is a memorable event - much like a car jacking. This morning it was pretty grey and bleak out there but the cold snap had snapped and it was a balmy 7 degrees (44f). The roads were pretty wet from some heavy rain the night before so I elected to take the Vitus. The Vitus is a legend in this town. It was the first carbon fiber bike to find it's way on the island and back in the day it used to draw crowds when I first started taking it to races. Now it's my winter bike. The 7 speed Durace is as smooth as the day it rolled out of the warehouse. The chain and cluster (it was originally a 6 speed) has been long replaced but everything else on it is original.
Today I planned to take the group through their first set of hill repeats. Here in Victoria the hill repeat of choice for most is The Observatory. There's not much traffic and a solid effort by most will get you to the top in 7-9 minutes.
Another lesser used hill is Willis Point. I hadn't ridden Willis Point since 2004 when Peter was coaching me. He'd have me go up the front side, down the back side than back over. I recalled the back side was far more heinous than the front side. In fact I had it in my head that I popped over the front side in about 5 or 6 minutes without really stressing myself too badly. This seemed to me a better start for a group that contained some pretty new riders. The problem with my thinking was I hadn't taken into account that Reid hadn't sent me to this hill until I'd had three good months of riding, that included dozens of trips up the observatory.
So we started the first climb and after about 8 minutes, when the road kicks up to a good 12% I knew I'd taken these guys up a nasty sharp slap! I made it to the top with a few of the stronger riders already there, gulping in air and peeling off layers.
I immediately wheeled around stopped several of the novice riders from tackling the entire peak. We all regrouped at the bottom.
The Observatory was only five minutes away from Willis Point but these guys were game. We would finish our three repeats here.
Now I love my Vitus. It's is a great ride but the straight seven on the back is not great for climbing - especially when you're not as fit as you want to be. I red lined with all three efforts.

When you're coaching a group you feel like you should be able to "lead" the charges but it wasn't going to happen today. In the end I had to call it my best ride of the year. 3 good hours in the saddle. I did a short 16' run up Mt Tolmie after the ride. My first transition run of the year as well. All in all a great training day.