Quote Originally Posted by indysteel View Post
The main road into and out of Morgan Monroe is a gentle grade. It's kind of rolling. There is a BIG hill called Beanblossom that is part of the Hilly Hundred. It's the descent we did at the beginning. It's easy enough to avoid, however. The route we did hits some short, but slightly steep, hills on the way to Lake Lemon and, coming back, hits some long but not so steep climbs on Old State Road 37. When I say long, I mean maybe a half to 3/4 mile. They're the kind of hills that you just need to find the right gear and then patiently spin up.

I would say that, minus the descent on Bean Blossom, it's all doable for you. The steep stuff might be hard, but as I've said, all you have to do is dismount
and walk.
This is good to know - it is the technical descents that have me very nervous as there is NO chance of practicing those around here. Eventually I will need to take this on but I do not want to do it alone the first time. Call me a wimp

I am a little nervous about the CIBA ride down there on July 17th, I've been told there is one descent where one can go 45 mph! That sounds like fun, but I've yet to hit downhill speeds greater than 26 mph, and our hills are so short...however there is no club rule that says that I can't go down the hill slower. I just have to figure out how to do it without overheating my brakes

Those long climbs sounds like just the thing that I need to take on, as you know here the hills are quite steep - but quite short.... This doesn't concern me as I've yet to see a hill I can't walk up