The week between Phase 2 and Phase 3 of my training was a recovery week capped with my greatest ride yet: a planned 120 miles and 12,000ft of climbing.

The operative word there is "planned".

I made a lot of mistakes--mostly psychological--and things did not go as planned. I went into the ride feeling great, over-extended myself in the 70 miles leading up to the major climbs, and then reacted poorly when I realized the wheels were coming off my little red wagon on the first climb up Mt. Baldy.

The ride ended at 81 miles and 7,600ft of climbing. Admittedly, I probably could have squeezed out another mile and another 1,000ft, but sometimes you just reach a point where you realize that it's time to get the recovery started and there's nothing to be gained from any more punishment. It's not a proud realization, but it can be an important part of training.

All of these photos come after I've already logged 70 warm-up miles. Unfortunately, you can see from my form that I'm hurting for most of the climb.

Mt. Baldy is considered one of the hardest--if not the hardest--climb in all of Southern California. Although it doesn't have the 21 switchbacks, it's nearly a match for L'Alpe d'Huez. Mt. Baldy is a 12.6 mile, 4,600 foot, 7% average grade climb. The Mt. Baldy climb is actually longer and the final three miles are steeper than d'Huez. You can find more info about Mt. Baldy and check out its profile of pain here.

The plan was to climb it twice on the same day. I imploded a mile from the summit of the first climb.

Although it wasn't originally in my training plan, I will be taking another shot at the Mt. Baldy climb as my last major challenge before I leave for Europe.