Last night I hit the road on my bike and made a 14 or so mile trek around the area. It was a beautiful night for a ride; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the breeze was strong enough just to keep things relatively decent as far as temperature goes and the humidity wasn’t stifling.
I have been wanting to get in shape for the next long ride I’d like to conquer, which I think is going to be 80 miles or so during the Fourth of July weekend. Because we live in a hilly part of the state, I can’t really avoid hills if I want to ride somewhere interesting, so last night I decided to tackle some of the bigger hills in the area.
One of the things asked of a cyclist is “what do you do about this hills and mountains?” My cheery answer is: “I ride down the other side. Really fast.” The climb up the hill north of the city was slow but steady. It took about 30 minutes to go four or so miles and I was in one of the lowest gears on my bike. I usually end up stopping along these types of climbs so that I can catch my breath, but last night I trudged my way up without having to stop. Once I was on top of the hill I made my way over to our road so that I could make the quick journey down.
That was fun.
The ride down took about four minutes to go two miles. Top speed was 39 MPH (according to the GPS). I went from 950 feet ASL to 550 feet ASL. The road had just been paved so it was really smooth. It was awesome and scary.
And I’d do it again in a second.
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