Saturday July 26 Rides

[makbike]

Joined the club for a MadDog century today. The route followed a lot of the roads used in the Old Kentucky Home Tour and took us to the infamous Pottershop Rd. I've heard about this road and its hills but have never attempted it that is until today. I was a bit nervous about the ride given my battle with a stomach virus most of the week - would I have enough in the tank to climb the hills on Pottershop and complete the century. Early in the ride my legs felt great and I settled into a very nice cadence. I found myself breezing along, enjoying the beautiful scenery and chatting with good friends as we made our way to Pottershop. As we approached Pottershop I decided to take a few "hits" off my inhaler no need to have an asthma attack half way up and notices the closer we got the more inhalers were put to use. Seems we were all a bit intimidated by what was ahead.

Pottershop is a series of hills - the small ones are not counted by the experienced cyclists I learned. However, there are three significant climbs the first literally being at the start of the road. The first hill is .35 miles long and has a 13.7% grade to it. It was a tough one and I always find it a bit intimidating when I'm on such a slope to see people walking or stopped in hopes of catching their breath. I pressed on to face the next hill - again .35 miles in length but not as steep (9.2% grade). Pottershop continued on and took us up some other hills which are discounted by those in the club who have face this monster before but I will admit it was a scenic road with little to no traffic. Finally, the last hill came into view and thankfully it was shorter (.23 miles) but a bit steeper than the second one (10.2%). I'm glad I have a triple and I put that granny gear to use today! I survived Pottershop (I feel like I need a T-shirt which proclaims my victory!) and rolled into the lunch stop with a big smile on my face.

The rest of the day went well - some small hills, lots of rollers, beautiful countryside and a great group to ride with as the miles passed by us. The ride down Lily Pike was great and riders were letting their bikes run. I love going down this hill for it is so straight and the view is spectacular (if you ride the OKHT you have to climb it but the view is still awesome).

We returned to our cars a little after 4 tired but happy campers. I logged 96.2 miles today and averaged 15.6 mph. Time to eat, rest and get ready for the century tomorrow over in southern Indiana.

[SouthernBelle]

I did a ride before meeting up with Meg to watch some of the TT championships. Nice rollers, couple of climbs, about 32 miles.

[arielmoon]

WOW! I am going to have to check out those Sprint Intervals! And good job!

I rode 30 miles solo along the highway after a thunderstorm. It is hilly but I have no idea about the climbs Anyway this is only my second time going 30 miles in one ride (the other was a charity ride with a stop after 20) Pretty good head wind coming home but averaged 18.9mph.