About 1 mile in another cyclist came flying down the road past us, he just have been enjoying that part I thought to myself. After about another mile this same cyclist rode past us at about 3 times the speed we were going and he looked like he was just out for a leisurely ride. I seriously could not have even pictured Lance Armstrong going as fast after already doing climb once.
If Dave had not been with me I would have given up at least a half dozen times, but he stuck with me, both of us just grinding away, slowly making our way up the hill. I had a few cramps pop up and I thought for sure I was done, but I was able to keep going. About 1/2 mile from the top my legs just stopped, they had no more. I checked my watch and we had been riding the Squaw Peak road for 38 minutes. Not a long time for a bike ride, even with the 35 minutes it took us to get to the base of the climb, but 38 minutes of constant killer pressure on the legs was apparently all I could take.
After a brief rest I got back on the bike, happy there was a seat to support me since my legs were complete jelly. The ride back down, though much easier did actually make my arms tired. I still need to check my brake pads to see if I have anything left, they seemed to get softer and softer the more I used them. I'm sure they heated up and melted away by the time we reached the bottom.
Once we got to the bottom I realized I still had 10 miles to get back to my car that I had left at work. Normally this 10 miles isn't too bad, about a 30 minute ride. The small hills left me weak and I had no energy left in my legs. It ended up taking me a little over 45 minutes to get back to my car.
I'll give Squaw Peak another try, but I'm going to need a few weeks of intervals to feel like I might have a shot at it.
2 comments:
We have a very popular 6km hill climb here that I did before Noelle got here, but almost everyone else I did it with was on a road bike, while I was on a hardtail Mountain bike with slicks fitted ... by the time I got to the top, they were all ready to head straight back down, I might have been last up, but I was 2nd back down - I think I prefer off-road though for cycling ... Also I had already done 180km+ that week on the bike, and it was about 20km total ride, (you did more) though I know what the ride back can be like :(
two days later and my legs are still feeling it.
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