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| From OMGWTF! |
Yes that is the title of the ride you can figure it out.
Right off the bat, this was the hardest muscle ride I have ever done. I have been fatigued before in biking, but never so much muscle ache. This ride I felt like I worked out in the gym doing squats! The ride is 7 climbs with 5 being 1000ft in 1 mile. When doing this it is imperative to have a compact crank or triple. With my 36-26 I was still dieing. The crew we had was Bruce,Ryan and Mark. I was riding with my rival team the Bike Lane boys, but like the saying goes keep your friends close and your enemies closer!:-) Bruce is doing a topic about toughest workouts for MetroSports. He got this ride as a brutal hill climb ride. Well it delivered in spades. A couple things I noticed on the ride:
Bruce has no fear in desending! While I seem to have some fear issues still after I crashed 6 years ago going 47 mph down Harp Hill.
Ryan is coming into some good form, and he was hurting me on the medium grades.
Mark who is 51 or 52 is pretty phenomenal I mean he is 20 years my senior and rides the same speed as I do!
My form seemed pretty good, most climbs myself and Ryan would lead and Mark would gain ground going up the climb. Bruce was hampered with riding a 39-25 which I would have pulled a muscle if I used that. The hardest climbs I felt were Hamburg which is 6 miles into the ride, and it is longer then the others. ZittlesTown was the hardest, with these crazy steep pitches thrown in there. Coxy Brown was a destroyer, in that it was at the end of the ride, if it wasn’t stepped, and didn’t have this 500M of flat in the middle I would have had to walk. We weren’t racing, just going our own pace. I was feeling it a couple of times when we were doing rollers in the valley, where Ryan was tapping out a strong rhythm. I think riding the steep hills of Liberty furnace last weekend paid off; because these climbs were very similar in severity. I seemed to do my best when the climbs were at their worst. I think my strong suit is my breathing, in that I seem to do better when the climb is about just getting up the mountain, not about the speed you do the climb.
I think I am going to reroute this ride a little and do it again, it should be better, with us not going on the same roads as much. I was able to beat Ryan back to the car, but he got held up by some pickups on the downhill so I didn’t really beat him but DCMTB was first to the parking lot.
5 comments:
Love those downhills! It made the pain all worth it. My HR was pretty much under control all day--it was my muscles that were dying. Serious strength workout. My altimeter, which always seems to under-report elevation, said 8,500ft, but BBC swears it's 9800ft. It felt like at least that much. Thanks for waiting at the top for the pedal-masher, Sir Spinsalot.
-Bruce
By the way, I love that we are your "rivals."
We are totally going to steal your mascot and TP your houses during Homecoming.
BIKE LANE RULZ!!
I did this route with PPTC a couple of weeks back, and it is, without a doubt, one of the most crazy hill rides I've ever done. I felt that Harp was a little more trying than Hamburg, but I agree about Coxey Brown: it's murder at the end. But that downhill after that (and after Hamburg) is pure bliss!
It was a great ride. Toughest I've done this year. Bruce takes the KOM jersey since he used a 39/25 and rode every climb.I don't know if I could have managed it myself.
Darren, I like how we "weren't racing, just going our own pace." And I seem to remember you saying, "Hey let's take turns pulling up to the look-out" on Gambrill road and as soon as I pulled you up to the look-out you slung-shot around me....I felt so used. I'll get you next time Bueller! -Ryan
Darren, I have been carrying the torch for you here in The Gambia, logging some 2000kms on my bicycle...Granted, the highest point in this country probably doesn't exceed 100m over sea level, but the south bank highway does make for some good off-roading.
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