Feel the burn: Swain's Lane

After work I decided that I'd head to Regent's Park for some Chaingang action then do some hill sprints up Swain's Lane. The plan was to do an hour or so getting to the Inner Circle and around it and then head up to Swain's Lane. John my mate and I were lucky to join in with some of the London Pheonix club who where were doing quite a well drilled ride. It wasn't too hard but we knew the climbing later would be tough.
Coming out of the wrong gate (it all looks the same) we took the wrong turn and ended up going up a massive climb (for London).

The plan was to do 5 flat out (well as near as flat out as possible) climbs of Swain's Lane. It's Evil what ever speed you ride it. We scrubbed one go so we were down to four as we had just done the big climb to Hampstead.
The last time I did repaeats of Swain's Lane was the very last ride before I got Swine Flu. The pain was back.
The first one was evil. My legs were screaming before I'd even got to the halfway point where it gets steeper. 2nd time I just couldn't ride so hard at the start. Going through the steep bit I felt OK and this was the pathetic one. The 3rd was better as I went hard over the top. The 4th and final just felt terrible. I knew this was the last so I sprinted going over the top slightly cramping as I got to the last speed hump. Oxygen debt is an understatement. I couldn't talk. Just how it's supposed to be.
Back for more next week but with my PowerTap to see how pathetic my legs really are.
http://connect.garmin.com/player/73504640