This year I've been cycling since May. My last post mentions that I've done about 400 miles. The last couple of times have been epic 20 milers for an hour and a half.
Today was just 9 miles. Easy right?
Look at this route's profile. Notice those V shaped valleys. Those I climbed! If you know Caves Road, then you know that hill. I calculate it at a 12% grade. I have a map of cycling routes in Baltimore County which shows the grades of different routes. It's marked as a red above 8%! It's short and steep. It sucked, and I was sucking wind several yards from the top. There was also a dead cat on the road with flies buzzing around him. That sucked too.
I spent the next mile saving for the climb up Garrison Forrest. That was hell too. I was passed by two other cyclists who seemed to sprint up it. I stopped at the top to get my wind back.
For the rest of the ride, I was tired. Perhaps a rest would've had me going again, but at the time, I just wanted to sit down and die. The rest of the route was no cake walk either. If I read my Topo correctly, this 9.06 mile ride had 650 feet of climbing. I don't think that's true but it sure as hell feels it. I'm gonna need a ride with 1500 feet of elevation change or start a hill climbing workout!
With this ride, I'm officially past 400 miles, but barely. I need to step it up in order to get to 500 (450 is too easy as of now).
Labels: cycling