So I'm not a climber

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My riding partner and I have been training really hard for an upcoming Century, and there is a lot of climbing on the route, so that is what we have been working on: our hill legs.

After Wednesday's training ride, he decided he couldn't do it, and that he wouldn't ride with me after all. I was surprised, he had a bad day out there but all along he and I have had nearly matched paces and skill. Turned out, Tuesday night he had eaten Mexican, at a less than faboo place in town.

I guilt tripped him a little, but I wasn't going to push. He came out for yesterday's training ride after all, same horrible route, hotter day, saying if he couldn't keep up he'd head back to the start point at a convenient spot around mile 60.

During the ride, he said maybe his issue was mental. We have a fellow rider who has not been training much this year, but he is hard to ride with because he moans and groans like he is in horrible pain. At first it is funny, but then you notice your own aches and pains and eventually even small hills are friggin mountains! So at every hill, I said 'I LOVE hills! Hills are friends! Going down will be so much FUN!

He did the whole 87 with us. Even passed me on Hell Hill. Last week he had needed to stop partway up.
My point is, sometimes when we have a bad hill day, we ate the wrong thing or not enough of the right thing.
And a lot of the trouble with hills is mental.