Yesterday I rode with a friend, Jesse, up the back side of Mt Hamilton. We started at 6 AM. Boneheaded me forget my helmet and gloves. Actually, I thought Thom had put them in the car with my bike. So I rode the first 2 and a half hours like a rebel - helmetless. :D I really missed my gloves. We had a bit of a headwind at the start and my nose was constantly running. I just couldn't bring myself to wipe it with my bare hand, so after every snot rocket I was tugging up the hem of my shirt to wipe my nose. Jesse was snickering at me I'm sure for being a girly girl. :p
The first two and a half hours were great temperature wise. My HRM shows it was 75 degrees when we got to the Junction Cafe - a biker dive that is not open at 8:30 AM. Fortunately we had gotten Thom to do SAG for us for the first 50 miles - to the summit of Hamilton. Other than the cafe, there is nothing on this road. We saw almost no traffic, no other riders.
It's about 30 miles to the Junction Cafe. The first mile and a half are a pretty steep climb and then it levels out to about a steady 1% uphill grade for 20 miles or so. Two little bumps up and then a nice downhill into the Junction. Thom caught up to us shortly after the Junction and we refilled bottles.
The road then rolls through a valley for 13 miles with two little climbs before the final 4.5 mile ascent up Hamilton. Thom was waiting for us again just before the final climb. We both had Red Bulls and then the fun began. This final climb is 1900 feet, average grade of 8%. There are counters in the road counting down to the Summit. I estimated 15 minutes per mile. Do the math, that's 4 MPH. I actually did a little better than that. Thinking about it as 15 minute increments really helped though. It was hot, it was hard. Miles 3 to 2 were the worst! It was a steeper pitch and more exposed. That's where I thought WTF am I doing?! I could look over the edge and see how far up I already gone. That motivated me to keep going too.
Thom was waiting for us at the Hamilton observatory with some food, more cold Red Bulls and water. It was 95 degrees at the observatory.
The descent down the other side was great. I was pretty comfortable on it, having done it last weekend with Jo. Some good Samaritan bikers gave us ice and cold water at the base, so we didn't need to stop at 7-11. We continued on to our next climb - Calaveras. The end of that is a short, steep little sucker. I'm glad I can balance while doing 2.4 mph. :eek:
We rolled along the Calaveras reservoir and then stopped at a funky little store in Sunol for more water and I had another Red Bull. This is the 123 degree stop! OK so my HRM had been sitting in the sun for about 5 minutes. But still it was flipping hot. I had bought too much water for my bottles so we were squirting it on our heads.
We finished up with about 13 miles of relatively flat stuff and once we turned east we were graced with a tailwind. Total climb for the ride was 7740 feet.
Jesse, bless him, had a cooler with a cold Red Bull and a water for me to drink on the drive home. Temperature at the end of the ride was 100.
It was a good, long training ride. My butt isn't used to so much time in the saddle. It didn't bother me on the ride, but today I can feel it. The backside of Hamilton always reminds me of how I REALLY need to strengthen my back. There's something about that unrelenting 8+%. I sweat a lot normally, but I swear I had rivers of it running off my face. I lost 4 pounds! They'll be back, at least 1 or 2, I'm sure. :rolleyes: But I have no other signs of dehydration.
I hope it's cooler for Knoxville.
V.
