How was your 5/7 ride?

[owlice]

21 miles on my usual trails and just a little road this evening, with the ducks, the mutts, the gnats, the small children, the big children, the grandmothers, the clueless youth, the clued-in youths, the geese, the beavers, a few kamikaze robins (I swear one of these is going to end up snagged in my open, panting mouth one day), the bikers with no helmets/lights/reflective gear after dark, the stop signs, and a few, but only a few, raindrops.

A fabulous time!

[luv2climb]

Thanks to one of my YouTube subscribers, I found two more good steep, painful climbs to play on These are both in El Dorado Hills, CA. The first one, Hollow Oak Drive, has a maximum grade of 16%. I climbed both sides of it between Bass Lake Road and Spinning Wheel Court:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84143204

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaaFCbwxCGE


view from top of Hollow Oak Drive climb by kittyz202, on Flickr


Hollow Oak Drive & Spinning Wheel Ct by kittyz202, on Flickr

The second climb was quite a bit shorter but it was steeper and more painful. This is Boulder Ridge Road. I measured a very quick 22%, but I tend to believe the more consistent 20% readings I got for a max grade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWRVLM-pgUk


view from top of Boulder Ridge Road climb by kittyz202, on Flickr


my Specialized Sirrus at top of Boulder Ridge Road climb by kittyz202, on Flickr

I got chased by a dog near the top of a climb. As you will see, my usual tactic of making puppy sounds to calm barking dogs failed miserably:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JHqmrRUcJ0