Monday 8/24 rides

[mudmucker]

I've done Vaughn Hill Rd. before. Actually I used to ride that whole area as I lived in Shirley in the 90's. Overall Bolton is pretty flat but that's just my opinion in the overall geologic scheme of things - 2 or 3 short hills or several lower inclines during a ride through the course of one town makes not a hilly town or ride - it's just a couple of small hills in an otherwise flat landscape Nor do I consider it climbing as it's usually not really sustained. These are just my cycling world definitions (in the age old argument of what is a hill), such as grades of <6 % that are less than 3/4 mile that might have 50-300 ft of 7-10% grade aren't hills but pesky inclines. Now that's not to say I'm not huffing and puffing on some of them. Harvard and other nearby areas aren't bad either. There seems to be greater distances of flat between the pesky inclines so it doesn't seem bad. Mostly I guess we all just call anything with an incline a hill generically, relative to a flat landscape regardless of the grade.

Yeah, I still need to find out if I really do have asthma. If I do I don't think it's ever really hindered me and certainly not like I've seen some people. But it'd be neat if it's something "they can fix" and make it even better.

[Crankin]

Well, it's true that we don't have the sustained climbs that they have out west. But I consider Old Bay and Vaughn Hill 2 of the toughest local climbs. Yes, they are short, but the grades go up to 13-15%. The ride I do from my house to Old Bay is 55 miles and has 4,000 feet of climbing. To me, that's a lot. I like short, steep climbs. I guess it's all what we are used to.