Climbing and the consequences

[cyclotourist]

Yesterday I tackled what was for me a challenging route.  I've almost made it up to Oak Glen before, but always abandoned within the last four miles.  It's an 18 mile climb from my house, with about 4,000 ft of climbing in it.  Yesterday I got out a bit late and it was heating up already, but in the end made it to the summit!  Before that, back about two miles in the "town" I treated myself to chips & salsa, a cerveza and a fantastic taco.  Reaching the little Mexican restaurant up there was always something I looked forward to, and finally made it!  Total time was five hours, including a relaxed lunch stop.

Roadside photos here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclotourist/archives/date-taken/2011/07/30/  Lots of bike photo-opps as I was stopping what seemed like every 10 minutes to rest in the shade!

When I got back home I think I was the most tired I've ever been from a ride.  I can usually ride 60ish (100K) w/out any problems, but this 37 mile ride kicked my butt.  I just dragged all day, arms and legs were totally noodly.  Took a late afternoon nap and still went to bed early!  Today no aches or stiffness which is great!  Might get out for a little ride this morning if I play my cards right.  FWIW it's actually drizzling this morning.  Weird summer, but I love it!

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Cheers,
David
Redlands, CA

...in terms of recreational cycling there are many riders who would probably benefit more from
improving their taste than from improving their performance. - RTMS

[René Sterental]

Awesome! Congratulations!

René

[Michael_S]

You the man David!... quite a climb in this heat.  and you downed a Negro Modelo on the way up too.

Bet that downhill was fast and fun.

 

~mike

 

 

[cyclotourist]

I had to do something to beat the heat!!!  I think the heat make it extra hard, but mentally it is a challenge as well.  There's a couple mile straightaway that just goes on, and on, and on...  And yeah, the return trip was a BLAST!  Three hours up (one hour kicking back), a half hour to get home!

Map's on Bikely, although Bikely.com is not loading for me for some reason...  http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Oak-Glen-from-Redlands  Might have to start using mapmyride although I don't like their site as much...

 

 

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[Esteban]

Nice work. I'd like to do it.

> *...in terms of recreational cycling there are many riders who would
> probably benefit more from
> improving their taste than from improving their performance.* - RTMS

[Michael Hechmer]

The great thing about climbing is that every mountain has a top!  And you get to go downhill.

We did a short charity ride on the tandem over the weekend and the first half was all uphill, climbing 1300+ feet in fifteen miles of mostly dirt roads.  Tandems don't like going uphill and the 130 year old team isn't too good at it so we struggled to stay in contact with the peleton.  But we left the feed station with the leaders.  No one had a chance of staying with us on the downhill as we sat upright and coasted back to the start at 40 mph.   My stoker was screaming all the way, only later did I realize it wasn't pure joy!

Now, riding into the wind seems to go on for ever, and when I turn around that dang wind seems to turn too.

michael 

[cyclot...@gmail.com]

This downhill had me hitting 42mph and averaging 30 on the
downhills... not too shabby for a single!

Would be hitting warp speed on a tandem!!!

[Amit Singh]

Congrats Dude. You've got some serious leg pumping endurance to maintain a 3 hour uphill battle. After you finish something like that it helps to put things into perspective. Previous mountains become hills and hills become flat-ish fun.

Keep the good energy flowing, legs pumping and photos coming.

Definitely enjoyed this story. Thanks for sharing it.

[Michael Hechmer]

Ah sweet speed; and it's so much nicer when some yokel doesn't pass you, then realize he's going way too fast and slam on his brakes!

Yesterday I had my all time most embarrassing hill climbing experience.  It began by spending the morning up and down ladders painting windows until the sun fried my brain.  So I decided to jump on a bike and ride to my favorite swimming hole; but first I swapped out the wheels to handle the two long stretches of dirt roads.  It's about a half hour ride in each direction and goes up and over a steep hill in both directions.  On the way out I noticed some chain skip as I climbed in the 34/28.  But it was on the way back that things got "interesting."  The return hill is about 1 1/4 miles and starts up very gradually until it hits 10% for the last 300 yards. As you look up the road it never looks very steep, but I've been climbing it for 20 years and know that if I push too hard at the bottom I'll be cooked at the top.  Usually I climb it in a 34/28 combination, but I can't count how many times I felt very tired and asked myself, "do I have a flat tire?"  Well, yesterday I was struggling in a 28/28 and asking that very question, so at the top I stopped and check, and sure enough my front tire was down about 50%!  It's two more miles of dirt road to get home so I soldiered on, going carefully down the other side of the hill.  When I got into my yard, got off the bike, and tried to roll it into my shop, it would not move.  That's when I looked at the rear wheel and saw that it had slipped from the dropout and was jammed against the chainstay.  Dah, light dawns slowly on marble head.

Michael

hoping for a better ride today.

[cyclot...@gmail.com]

D'oh!

At least you can imagine how much faster you'll be today!

[René Sterental]

The power of tour legs did that... With a little aid from a loose QR!!! LOL!!!

Sent from my iPhone 4

On Aug 5, 2011, at 11:26 AM, "cyclot...@gmail.com"
<cyclot...@gmail.com> wrote:

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