That was interesting! John T., Jimmy, Scott, Galloway, Rand, Allen, and I rode the Alumni bike tour course today, more to finalize it than anything, and wow, it sure is different than riding south! The biggest thing we have to face when going south is the cut; we could only dream of something as easy as the cut today.
Jimmy and I drove the proposed course yesterday, and honestly from a car it didn't seem too bad. However, when we got to the bottoms north of GM and hooked right and hit the first hill, it was clear we had been mislead. When we hit the second bottoms and crossed the bridge, I looked ahead and saw the massive hill awaiting us. It literally looked as if we were riding into a wall. I just started laughing. What else could we do? We had to go up.
I kid you not, my Garmin, however accurate it might or might not have been, registered 26% grade. That's over double the pitch of a regular roof. It was crazy steep, if not that long. I never doubted for a second I could climb it, or even if any of our riders would... I was more thinking of the poor souls we lead out tomorrow. There will be blood, oh yes, there will be blood...
It would have been bad enough if that had been the end of it, but it wasn't. The next few miles were a serious of lulls interrupted by harsh climbs. None of them lasted too long, usually about a half mile or so, but they were more than enough.
Eventually we got to some tamer hills, and the ride turned downright pleasant. I will also say road conditions were excellent throughout the ride, including fresh pavement in two separate areas. There can't be any complaint about being on overly busy roads either - we managed to stay off Highway 58, making it a much safer ride.
It came down to this - we could have a safe ride or we could have an easier ride. There was no way to have both. I think we made the right choice, even if some of our "guests" tomorrow wind up hating our guts.
Oh, I created five new segments on today's course in Strava. Check it out... it was surprising who won the most KOMs. Allen also asked that I create a club, the "Amish Country Cyclists", and I've sent invites to everyone who has given me an e-mail. Of course you should all understand you have to create a Strava account if you want to be a club member. Don't worry, it's free. If you have the ability to upload ride data (either through smartphone or Garmin device) you can analyze and compare your rides with others. It's actually a terrific training tool. If you haven't tried it, you don't know what you're missing.
Ride tomorrow!
Jimmy and I drove the proposed course yesterday, and honestly from a car it didn't seem too bad. However, when we got to the bottoms north of GM and hooked right and hit the first hill, it was clear we had been mislead. When we hit the second bottoms and crossed the bridge, I looked ahead and saw the massive hill awaiting us. It literally looked as if we were riding into a wall. I just started laughing. What else could we do? We had to go up.
I kid you not, my Garmin, however accurate it might or might not have been, registered 26% grade. That's over double the pitch of a regular roof. It was crazy steep, if not that long. I never doubted for a second I could climb it, or even if any of our riders would... I was more thinking of the poor souls we lead out tomorrow. There will be blood, oh yes, there will be blood...
It would have been bad enough if that had been the end of it, but it wasn't. The next few miles were a serious of lulls interrupted by harsh climbs. None of them lasted too long, usually about a half mile or so, but they were more than enough.
Eventually we got to some tamer hills, and the ride turned downright pleasant. I will also say road conditions were excellent throughout the ride, including fresh pavement in two separate areas. There can't be any complaint about being on overly busy roads either - we managed to stay off Highway 58, making it a much safer ride.
It came down to this - we could have a safe ride or we could have an easier ride. There was no way to have both. I think we made the right choice, even if some of our "guests" tomorrow wind up hating our guts.
Oh, I created five new segments on today's course in Strava. Check it out... it was surprising who won the most KOMs. Allen also asked that I create a club, the "Amish Country Cyclists", and I've sent invites to everyone who has given me an e-mail. Of course you should all understand you have to create a Strava account if you want to be a club member. Don't worry, it's free. If you have the ability to upload ride data (either through smartphone or Garmin device) you can analyze and compare your rides with others. It's actually a terrific training tool. If you haven't tried it, you don't know what you're missing.
Ride tomorrow!
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