Today was my first post-40-mile ride, and since I said I was going to shift focus to working on hills, I headed up to Antietam Battlefield. The route I did is like the kiddie roller coaster at the amusement park compared to what more serious riders do (For the TE-DC ladies, it's similar to Poolesville, except with more rollers and less flat stretches), but for someone who's not used to hills it's a great place to start. It may have been too soon after my long ride on Sunday, though, 'cause my legs were tired immediately. Pushed on, though, and made it through most of the route I had mapped (I cheated and cut it short by a bit because the breeze became gusty and that was just insult added to injury )

At the top of the hardest hill, there was a sign at the entrance to a farm that read "Jesus is the answer". All I could think when I saw that was "For me, right now, a rear cog with at least 28 teeth would be the answer". So, I've decided that when I get a new bike with a bigger cogset, the biggest cog won't be my "granny" gear, it'll be my "Jesus" gear.