I had a breakthrough! Hills are my friends!

[pinkbikes]

Yesterday I had a very good ride. Thursday afternoon I have an early finish at work so I can take DD to her dancing class and then I have three precious hours to myself to ride my bike. Usually one or more friends join me and we head to a forest with our MTBs and ride until it gets dark. There is nothing so carefree and childish as an afternoon of playing hooky from work on your bike!

Yesterday all my friends were busy for various reasons and I headed out by myself. I decided that it was time for a big climb, so I drove out to South Boundary Road (a forestry fire trail that climbs to Mt Nebo in SE Queensland).

I first rode this climb with friends in July last year, fresh from an ear infection and heaps of antibiotics, and terrified silly about how I'd handle it since I am not noted as a climber. It was horrible! I was off and had to walk three times I think. I got passed at walking pace (while I was walking) by the 70yo father of one of the friends!

Since then I have climbed it several times and have not had to walk since the second time, although I have found it testing every time. Maybe it helps if I explain what it's like. Once we went to the top of Mt Nebo and rode the descent instead. The descent was 996m (about 3300feet?) but the descent also included 696m (about 2300 feet?) of climbing at grades up to 18%, all in 23km (just over 15miles)! So the ascent direction is kind of a tough one for a person who hates climbing.

Yesterday I figured I would do it tough, as I feel a little less fit than I have been and the scales have been a little bit mean lately (they tell me I'm 1kg heavier than I've been for a while).

So I just cruised out at my own pace and ground it out up the hills for as far as I could get in 40minutes. Then I turned around for the ride back. It really is a blast coming back. The downhills are as fun as the uphills are yucky! By the time I got to the last uphill before the final downhill I was still feeling surprisingly good.

This last uphill has beaten me before. I had to walk bits of it the first two times I went there. It is the kind of hill that just goes forever and then disappears around the corner and goes up some more and then around another corner and goes up some more again.

So it is dark by now and I have my lights on and I am just grunting on up this hill and suddenly I have "the revelation" - I suddenly realise that it is NOT HURTING!!!!!! I was just happily toiling away up this monster hill that I have always hated and I was as happy as a clam and in no iminent danger of needing to get off and walk at all! My heart rate was sensible and I was breathing steadily. There was no need to scrape my lungs up off the ground and put them back in my chest or suck in water like a vacuum cleaner!

It might not have been that fast, or that pretty, but that hill does not own me anymore! I whupped its butt!


PS: Nice bonus is that I am obviously fitter than I thought - funny how your perspective changes over time!

[SheFly]

Woohoo! It always feels so good to get into the woods and conquer one thing that has owned us... Congrats on beating that hill! Now, every time you go out, you will now it is yours vs. the other way around .

I finally, this year, conquered a tough downhill rock to bridge transition that has always scared me. To put it in perspective, if the rock dropped to the trail, I would never have thought twice about it. But it didn't - it dropped to a wooden bridge that was rather long, and had a SLIGHT penalty if you missed.

For years, I have foot-dabbed on the rock to make the transition. Finally, this season, my DH took me out and MADE me ride it (there were tears...). Getting tired of fighting, I finally just gave in, looked at the bridge as if it were just a trail, and rode it. And then I went back and did it again. Now, I own it every time we ride that section! Woohoo!

So, I share in your joy and accomplishment! Good job.

SheFly

[crazycanuck]

Hey, great work! Sounds like you've got it

I too have one uphill trail that i'd like to do well on.

I think i might have partially solved an uphill issue...I use my roadie as a mtb training tool and always stay in the saddle uphill. I only had a double and was just getting really frustrated with not being able to spin esp on any steep hills in the city. Anywho, i made the call to my lovely bike shop boys & they put a compact double on my roadie this week. Tried it today & was able to get up a really steep hill that I would normally have to walk because of the grade.

I think part of my hill climbing issues off road may have been solved with the new roadie crank...Story to be continued

[bluebug32]

I think it's great how each season is a brand new slate for me. I'll worry about certain sections, get off and walk through them, and beat myself up for being so wimpy. Then, after a winter away from the scenes that scare me, I'm finding myself hitting them without thinking about it and forgetting about those previous worries. It just goes to show how much the mind blocks us from doing things after we label it.

[pinkbikes]

Hey, great work! Sounds like you've got it

I too have one uphill trail that i'd like to do well on.

I think i might have partially solved an uphill issue...I use my roadie as a mtb training tool and always stay in the saddle uphill. I only had a double and was just getting really frustrated with not being able to spin esp on any steep hills in the city. Anywho, i made the call to my lovely bike shop boys & they put a compact double on my roadie this week. Tried it today & was able to get up a really steep hill that I would normally have to walk because of the grade.

I think part of my hill climbing issues off road may have been solved with the new roadie crank...Story to be continued

Oh - now that's really interesting, because all my hill issues were born from my young and image-conscious days trying to ride my old roadie with a 13-18 on the back! I could barely get up a driveway I swear! But it was what all the guys were riding in the club I was with and I was young and impressionable and thought I should be able to ride it! So I rode that bike with that bunch of gears for twenty years and hated every hill I clawed my way over! When I bought my new roadie it had a sensible bunch of gears on the back and all of a sudden I could punt over things with ease that had caused me angst in the past. Imagine my delight when I got my MTB and had more gears than I knew what to do with!

So - yes - I think you are definitely on the right track there with a set of gears that suit you better (whichever end of the chain you attack it from).

[pinkbikes]

I finally, this year, conquered a tough downhill rock to bridge transition that has always scared me. To put it in perspective, if the rock dropped to the trail, I would never have thought twice about it. But it didn't - it dropped to a wooden bridge that was rather long, and had a SLIGHT penalty if you missed.

Oh - I know just what you mean - I have a particular really tight downhill switchback that is nothing special but I just have to unclip that inside foot. I don't even dab with it - it just hangs there "just in case"! It seems to be something in our heads that makes that situation scarier than it should be for us! So, well done on that rock-bridge nasty!

And I should have known I was getting better at hills now I think back. I went for a ride at Bunya the other week and they have a hill that is called "I Hate This One" - seriously - it's on the map! It is not super long (about 300m) and it is not super steep (10-15% grade) but it is just a lovely combination of being a bit long and a bit steep and has a water bar right in the middle of the steepest bit! I always engage granny and up I go. I would never try it in anything else.

Last time I went up it I thought it felt a bit harder than usual and I looked down as I went over the water bar and saw I'd messed up my gear change and was on the middle ring. I nearly fell off there and then in fright, but stood up and managed to get over the water bar, so I did the rest on the middle ring just to prove I could! More Wahoos! Even DH was impressed! Maybe in another few years I'll love hills! Maybe I'll have to have one of Urlea's jerseys!

[Miranda]

Man, that's a great story! Good for you.

I have an obstacle on a trail I ride that I always chicken out on as my cell phone scene saver. Been there all winter just waiting for me to come back.

Thx for the extra motivation.

[crazycanuck]

Pinkbikes I have to agree hills are our friends

The only annoying thing about hills in a certain off road area here in Perth..Pea Gravel AGHGHG..no grip, slip sliding around & just a pain in the behind..but fun

You have to experience pea gravel once in your life as you'll learn some new swear words...I'd never heard of it til we moved to Perth...

[OakLeaf]

Oh - now that's really interesting, because all my hill issues were born from my young and image-conscious days trying to ride my old roadie with a 13-18 on the back!

Too funny...

in my young days my training rear wheel had a 13-21, my race bike had a 13-18 and my small chainring was a 42, and climbing hills was so much fun I used to go back to the bottom and climb it again, sometimes twice, instead of waiting at the top for the rest of my training buddies...

now I'm old and feeble and my bottom gear is a 30x25 and hills just kick my *ss.

Anyway, great job on your breakthrough. I do love hills. Really, I miss them all winter. But they kick my *ss.

[pinkbikes]

Man, that's a great story! Good for you.

I have an obstacle on a trail I ride that I always chicken out on as my cell phone scene saver. Been there all winter just waiting for me to come back.

Thx for the extra motivation.

Go get it girl!

I have one of those too. It is a gnarly little uphill step-up root with a tree either side, sort of going around a bit of a corner and with a little knob of another root right in front of it. I have tried and failed it a few times, before giving up in disgust and stepping up over it and hoisting bike. A friend broke his rib falling on the little knob.

The silly thing is I go over bigger things all the time but this just has me spooked. One day soon I will look PAST the obstacle and just skim lightly over it with skill and derring do! ( ROTFL at the thought of me skimming lightly over anything! It is always a triumph of brute force and ignorance when I get over anything!)

[pinkbikes]

Too funny...

in my young days my training rear wheel had a 13-21, my race bike had a 13-18 and my small chainring was a 42, and climbing hills was so much fun I used to go back to the bottom and climb it again, sometimes twice, instead of waiting at the top for the rest of my training buddies...

now I'm old and feeble and my bottom gear is a 30x25 and hills just kick my *ss.

Anyway, great job on your breakthrough. I do love hills. Really, I miss them all winter. But they kick my *ss.

You rock! I had a 42-52 on the front and I hated every minute of every hill I climbed on that sucker I think! Now my lowest is a 39-27 and I can get up all my old nemeses!

I think I'm doing the opposite of you - I was a feeble young person and I'm getting better as I get older! How long can that last I wonder? Make hay while the sun shines I figure!


PS: I might be liking them better but I don't think I'll EVER miss hills!

[OakLeaf]

I don't think I'll EVER miss hills!

Ride in the flats for four months, you'll miss them.

[sgtiger]

Pinkbikes, congrats on conquering your hill! That's awesome!

Now if I could just conquer some of mine.

[GumbyGirl]

Hey Pinkbikes!!!

That is such a cool story and had me grinning from ear to ear . I've been off the bike for 4 months due to illness that's kinda got the better of me. Still not well enough to get out and ride any distance, but that story makes me look forward to it even more than I have been! I've been on the indoor trainer a bit and I'm gonna use your story as imagery to keep me going. Can't wait!

Gumbygirl

[pinkbikes]

Hey Pinkbikes!!!

That is such a cool story and had me grinning from ear to ear . I've been off the bike for 4 months due to illness that's kinda got the better of me. Still not well enough to get out and ride any distance, but that story makes me look forward to it even more than I have been! I've been on the indoor trainer a bit and I'm gonna use your story as imagery to keep me going. Can't wait!

Gumbygirl

Love your name - I recently did a 6hour MTB race and on one lap my DH was right behind me. I managed to fall off twice right in front of him. They were particularly graceless falls - one a gorgeous "superman" kind of a deal where I flew over the bars with arms outstretched - and he told me that if I looked up "gumby" in the dictionary I would see photographs of both those falls! So maybe I should have been a GumbyGirl instead!?

Glad to hear you are still persisting with a little time on the trainer - I'm sure you will find that it pays dividends when you are able to get back out on your bike. The trip back won't be quite so long. Glad to give you a little entertainment while you recuperate. Hope you are better really soon.