HTFU Weekly Rides at Gas Works Park 2025

HTFU ("Hills To Fly Up" but sometimes known by a less appropriate name) is our regular Tuesday night hill climb/power development workout. Come prepared for 60-90 minutes of steep hills and hard efforts. This will help you develop more power and mentally prepare you for challenging sections of your race course.

Equipment: Helmets are required to ride. A good headlight and taillight are recommended. Also MUY IMPORTANTE make sure that your bike is in good working order and there is plenty of life left in your brake pads. Can not stress this enough... Check your gear BEFORE coming out! Riders are encouraged to bring road or triathlon bikes for the sake of keeping the group pace consistent, but we'll gladly welcome a new cyclist on a mountain or hybrid bike. Bring your willingness to suffer and leave your inhibitions at home as we will tackle some of the steepest hills in Seattle.

Pace and Regrouping: HTFU is designed to get your heart rate close to anaerobic threshold and give you 3-4 chances to get close to your max HR. As everyone will conquer the hills at their own best-effort pace, we regroup frequently (at the top of almost every hill) and try not to lose anyone. Please note that this is a training ride and not a social ride. This requires that you pay attention to the group dynamics as we ride on open roads and try to stay with the group.

Routes: Our routes change every week, going through a 4 week cycle from easiest to hardest. This is a no drop ride. Everyone is encouraged to join. Challenge yourself.

You should join us, even if climbing hills is intimidating. We deliberately do hard climbs so that come race day, we are mentally and physically ready for whatever the race director might throw at us.

We are doing the 75th route. The regular route Is beginner friendly, with a stepped route up 75th. So beginners, join us! Those that want more challenge can go straight up 70th, and earn my respect.

Our route rotation:

HTFU 75th
HTFU Queen Anne
HTFU 98th
HTFU Bellevue

Location: We meet in the parking lot of Gas Works Park and start/end all our rides from there. Be aware on nice days this parking lot will fill up in the afternoon; if you're driving to this event, give yourself some extra time to find parking.

Time: Be ready to roll at 6:30 pm. We will have a brief safety speech, then roll a soon as it is done. Again, arrive early enough to be ready to roll at 6:30 sharp. If you are late, don’t expect to join the ride. Most rides are about 1.5 hours in length.

Weather: Rain or significant chance of rain cancels this ride. We'll make the final call no later than 5:30pm day of the ride. Please check back in the comments section prior to ride for cancellation due to bad weather.

In order to participate in any Seattle Triathlon Group event, you must sign our electronic waiver. Waivers only need to be signed once per year or if your contact info has changed. You can login to your account at https://www.seattletri.org/dashboard to check. I will only be accepting electronic waivers - please complete the waiver ahead of time! No waiver, no ride!