A lovely bike ride through hell
You couldn't ask for a much better mid-November day than we had Sunday. Sunny skies, temperatures in the low 60's and racing in wine country. That was about the extent of the goodness. What was left was unfiltered, hellish pain.
We raced on the grounds of Mt Pleasant Winery. It was a very nice setting for a race situated on the bluff and overlooking Missouri River valley down below with a great atmosphere of cheering fans. But, being on top of the hillside meant the race course was also on the hillside. It seemed that ninety percent of the course was either uphill, an off camber turn or what could loosely be described as a straight that was off camber. And, for good measure, the lowest portion of the course had a couple short sections of peanut butter thick mud to slow you down a little bit more before the big hill.
Ah, yes. The BIG hill. If there is one thing we often lack in our local cross races it is a run-up. A hill that requires to get off your bike, throw it on your shoulder or push it alongside. This lack of run-ups showed as almost everyone was suffering. As tortuous as the climb was, I managed to do okay "running" up. That is, if you consider little baby steps at 2 mph to be running. But, compared to the folks going 1.5 mph, I was flying. Still, there were a handful of people strong enough, or with proper gearing to ride up. Kudos to them.
Now that I think about, maybe I could use that Computrainer Climber that simulates 36% gradients.
We raced on the grounds of Mt Pleasant Winery. It was a very nice setting for a race situated on the bluff and overlooking Missouri River valley down below with a great atmosphere of cheering fans. But, being on top of the hillside meant the race course was also on the hillside. It seemed that ninety percent of the course was either uphill, an off camber turn or what could loosely be described as a straight that was off camber. And, for good measure, the lowest portion of the course had a couple short sections of peanut butter thick mud to slow you down a little bit more before the big hill.
Ah, yes. The BIG hill. If there is one thing we often lack in our local cross races it is a run-up. A hill that requires to get off your bike, throw it on your shoulder or push it alongside. This lack of run-ups showed as almost everyone was suffering. As tortuous as the climb was, I managed to do okay "running" up. That is, if you consider little baby steps at 2 mph to be running. But, compared to the folks going 1.5 mph, I was flying. Still, there were a handful of people strong enough, or with proper gearing to ride up. Kudos to them.
Now that I think about, maybe I could use that Computrainer Climber that simulates 36% gradients.
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