Conquered Killer Ride ... PICTURES!!!

[Fredwina]

Thanks Fredwina. Argh, eeek, ak! why do we do this?? SOMEONE TELL ME??

Beacuase it's fun

[Jiffer]

Thanks for all your replies. I've been frustrated that I haven't had time to sit and read them until now.

To answer some of your questions, the ride was a total of 1400 feet of climbing. When we turned onto Mills road, we went for about mile at about a 2% grade, another mile at about 3% to 4% and then it quickly became a 10% grade for maybe a quarter of a mile, eased to a 5% or so than back to 9% for another quarter of a mile, and then eased up and down between 4% and maybe 7% for another mile or so. I'm pretty much guessing at the distances. (Fredwina could tell you better.) And I could tell you EXACTLY if I knew how to properly use my great new Garmin bike computer! I just asked Dh and he said, "Read the manual." (He's working and doesn't have time to stop and deal with my new obsession of sitting at the computer in the middle of the day posting about bike riding!)

Not counting all the stopping (including giving the pony a shot!) ... our average pace was 13.8. I'm thinkin' that's not bad at all for that ride. Of course the 42 mph downhill helped a lot with that!

And, YES ... it was hot and NO, there is no shade! We should have left earlier, but didn't leave until about 9:00 a.m. It was probably in the 80's.

One of the reasons I wanted to do this ride was because my girlfriend, who's husband and she ride tandem with my husband and I, are going to ride our singles on Monday together for the first time. She's definitely stronger than me. When we were discussing courses, she suggested that very ride. I said, "Are you KIDDING me?!" I had just done it on the tandem for the first time. But then I thought about it some more and thought, "Hmm. Maybe I can do it better than I think I can." Sometimes I surprise myself. When Dh said he'd ride with me yesterday and I told him I wanted to do 30 miles, he ALSO suggested that ride. I decided to take him up on it so I could see how I'd do before going with my friend. She's never done that ride on her single either, so who knows how she'd do ... but I'm sure much better than I!

However, after yesterdays experience, I saw her last night and said, "How about a ride to the beach!" So, I think we're doing that. No climbing! But longer distance than I've ever done on the single. (45 to 50-ish) I'm not worried about distance though, as long as there's no climbing!