Cherohala Challenge

[BikeHN]

Well. I did it. It was really rough. The first tough climb came at about mile 5 of the Cherohala Skyway. When I hit that climb I thought, if it is like this the whole time then I just don't know. After that climb it kinda went down and flattened out a tad before going back up to a reasonable grade. Made it to the first rest stop 15 miles in. Good thing I didn't ask the people at the rest stop if the remainder of the ride got worse or was comparable to the first 15 miles, b/c it was much worse! Ignorance is bliss. I wouldn't have kept going had I known what I know now. Ha. But...I made it friends. It took me 3 1/2 hrs to ascend and about 1 hr. 20 min. to get back down. I looked down and was climbing at about 5 mph on some of the steep parts, but I just kept the pedals going. I'm happy I did it but I don't know that I would ever do that one again. Part of my suffering has to do with the fact that I haven't done over 31 miles this year prior to this. Beautiful ride though. I'll try to post some pics.