Crazy Rides, Crazy Times...
So this ride really wasn't all that crazy. I was only out on my bike for a bit over four hours; and only went 60 miles. The crazy part comes from today's ascent of Old La Honda Road.
I haven't been doing much climbing on my bike because I was having problems getting the brakes adjusted properly. Essentially, I was afraid of the descents. I have no desire to lose control coming down any sort of extended hill.
But my good friend Ryan helped me out with that problem. Thanks dude! So now I can head into the hills again, which is good because the weather has become ideal for such rides.
So despite putting in a lot of miles over the past few months, I am a bit out of shape for climbing hills. But I do have a lighter bike now, and I have lost a little bit of weight. So the climbing wasn't all that bad. When I started up the climb, I could really feel that my legs didn't like the idea. But I kept going. Coming around the third corner, I spotted another cyclist about 150 yards ahead of me, so I made it my goal just to catch him. I did that far sooner than I would have thought, passing him right at the steepest part of the hill. That's my first benchmark for the climb, and I was about 30 seconds off of my fastest pace up to that point. So I just tried to keep a steady pace. The other dude was keeping up with me, and he passed me with about a mile left in the climb. SO i just tried to keep up with him. Right at the end, where the road gets really rough, I put the hammer down (as the saying goes); and sprinted to the top. I ended up missing my best time by only six seconds, which is not bad at all..
The rest of the ride was super casual, including the descent down Highway 84. I was actually keeping up with the cars there, so no real need to go any faster... =)
I haven't been doing much climbing on my bike because I was having problems getting the brakes adjusted properly. Essentially, I was afraid of the descents. I have no desire to lose control coming down any sort of extended hill.
But my good friend Ryan helped me out with that problem. Thanks dude! So now I can head into the hills again, which is good because the weather has become ideal for such rides.
So despite putting in a lot of miles over the past few months, I am a bit out of shape for climbing hills. But I do have a lighter bike now, and I have lost a little bit of weight. So the climbing wasn't all that bad. When I started up the climb, I could really feel that my legs didn't like the idea. But I kept going. Coming around the third corner, I spotted another cyclist about 150 yards ahead of me, so I made it my goal just to catch him. I did that far sooner than I would have thought, passing him right at the steepest part of the hill. That's my first benchmark for the climb, and I was about 30 seconds off of my fastest pace up to that point. So I just tried to keep a steady pace. The other dude was keeping up with me, and he passed me with about a mile left in the climb. SO i just tried to keep up with him. Right at the end, where the road gets really rough, I put the hammer down (as the saying goes); and sprinted to the top. I ended up missing my best time by only six seconds, which is not bad at all..
The rest of the ride was super casual, including the descent down Highway 84. I was actually keeping up with the cars there, so no real need to go any faster... =)
posted by Mike Deitchman at
9:12 AM
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