Thanks to Alexander Komlik
It’s that time of year again … start of the Low Key Hill Climb series. It was a hot one for this ride … usually, you’ll want to carry a jacket for the descent, but not today. At least I didn’t have to worry about stuffing extra clothes in my pocket.
This year, they’re using EventBrite, so we could sign up, pay donation, all from the comfort of our home and our PC and Internet. Take care of all of that signing, payment stuff before hand, so that all we need to do is check our name on the sign up sheet. Much nicer, and smoother.
I was realistic, I’m not going to be able to keep up with most of the climbers here, so I deliberately positioned myself in the back. I also didn’t get too much climbing in before this weekend, so I wasn’t expecting too much.
Pretty quickly, the pack separated, and I was riding solo most of the way, which is fine by me. However, I still had the edge in me, to avoid being the last person to finish the climb. I think that kept motivating me to push forward. What’s great about LKHC is that even though faster climbers will finish must sooner than me, I would see them come down the mountain, encouraging those still coming up the hill. I heard a bunch of “you got it” and “good job, almost there”. That did help.
The combination of the heat and the climb took a lot out of me, and by the time I got to the top, I just wanted to curl up. I wasn’t expecting any water at the top, and there wasn’t. Usually, on these climbs, when it’s hot, water is usually gone (mostly because some are filling up both water bottles). But really, for this ride, it’s not really needed too much. We’re completely descending from here anyways (no uphill climb, like on Hamilton). However, it would have been nice to be able to top off my water bottle. At least they had bananas, and peanut butter filled pretzels .. mmm
The shots from my Shimano Sports Camera came out pretty well. I think it’s because I’m climbing, and not really going at any real pace, while if I was descending, I think these images would have been more blurry.
I looked at my Strava data, and found I did better than I thought I did. My time was 49 minutes … although not my best, but at least I made it under that 50 minute mark. I’m pretty happy with that.
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