I have new respect for Phil Gaimon.
Not because he smashed the STRAVA records for our 3 local mountains in one ride. That in itself is crazy good. No. I understand better how strong a rider he is after doing some 15-18% FulGaz climbs this morning.
Phil is currently training for his next Everesting record attempt, and expects to do it this fall when he finds the right climb. The right climb for him is a 15-16% pitch with no turns. He expects to motor up averaging 300 watts on the way up, and speeding down as fast as he can. And keep doing this for ~ 7 hours.
Here’s the thing. I hit 300-400 watts this morning for short, very short, periods of time. There is no way, no way, I could do this for 7 hours.
He has given me a new appreciation for pro cyclists. Phil was not the best. Far from it. If he is in this good of shape at the end of his, dare I say mediocre career, imagine how powerful elite cyclists are at the peak of theirs.
Where does that leave the rest of us mere mortals?
PedalWORKS 
It’s a crazy amount of power to produce over several back to back climbs. The pros really are on another level. On a side note, I couldn’t think of anything worse or as boring as riding the same straight 16% gradient stretch of road over and over for seven hours…
Yeah. It’s unimaginable.