Dear Mr. Miyagi,
What seemed like rank sadism to your
disciples clearly was a master plan. While I didn't always appreciate
or understand your wisdom in choosing these routes for our rides,
having seen and ridden some of the mountain passes we will ride on
July 14th, I now have a grasp that there was a method to
your madness. And a madness to your method, as belied by your evil
chuckles when describing a day's route.
Mt. Diablo early in the morning.
Because we will climb Monitor Pass in the dark and descend into the
rising sun. And it will be chilly.
Tunitas Creek Road at mile 60. Because
we will be climbing the backside of Ebbetts Pass at mile 60.
Pescadero Creek Road at mile 92.
Because we will be climbing Carson Pass at mile 90. While it's not as
long, the steep part of Pescadero Road is similar to the steep part
of Carson.
Coleman Valley Road. So we understand
and conquer a sustained steep grade. And because the pros ride it.
Kings Ridge Road. Because we just need
to be rewarded with beauty sometimes. And a screaming descent.
Page Mill Road. Because it's long and
relentless. Like the front of Ebbetts Pass. And the descent has some
steeply banked hairpin turns, like the front of Ebbetts.
Mr. Miyagi, all that car waxing and
fence painting seems to have done us some good.
Faithful readers have noted there has
been a gap in the ride reports. For this, I apologize and appreciate
your indulgence. Rest assured, I have been pedaling my sorry patootie
off. We're regularly riding over 100 miles and 9,10 or 11,000 feet of
climbing. Being on the bike, or around the bike, or prepping the bike
or loading or unloading the bike makes some Saturday ride days 14 or
more hours long. I'm done tuckered out and Sunday becomes a feeding
frenzy (post-ride tapeworm) while my brain is still fogged from
exhaustion. Then there's that whole work thing that
takes up the other 5 days...
So the legs have been turning but the
creative juices... not so much. I have a brilliant thought (no!
really!) at the first SAG stop at 10AM, but by 3PM all that is
happening is me wondering when I can stop and take some ibuprofen to
make my butt stop hurting.
Alas, I am not permitted whining.
However.... while I have seen the value
of many of the climbs, and the reason for sustained 12 or 15 mile /
3500 foot gain types of climbs, I'd like to present a list of climbs
which I don't ever see the need to do again, for I have been there,
done that, bought the T-shirt:
South Park.
Jamison Creek.
Redwood Gulch.
Sierra Road.
In 3 weeks time, I will be sitting in a
hotel room in Minden trying to sleep until the alarm goes off at 3AM,
when really, I'll be anxious about the upcoming ride. Before other
century rides, I didn't question my abilities so much. I trust the
training we have done thus far, but 129 miles is a long day and
15,000 feet is a lot of altitude. At altitude. Maybe then, I will
appreciate the reason for those 4 climbs.
As we approached Ebbetts Pass during
Altitude Camp last weekend, I said to my teammate, “I'm traumatized
by the unknown.” I had driven Ebbetts, but what I remembered, we
didn't ride, and I remembered it being worse than it was. She
reassured me that Ebbetts was nothing I hadn't done before. And
Ebbetts is the most difficult set of passes on the ride.
Seeing the terrain of the passes, being
able to visualize the route, knowing I can ride the last 3 passes
(but all in one day?!?) has eased my mind considerably.
It will still be the hardest ride to
date that I have ever done. I'm looking forward to conquering it.
