It’s interesting how stubborn one can get when it comes to cycling. I think I am buckling to peer pressure, as I originally was leaning towards not doing the BF ride today. The reason being Ramon is leading the ride, and he usually includes sadistically sick, ultra ultra steep hill climbs. I wasn’t feeling too strong, and didn’t feel I had my mojo … and yet here I am doing a ridiculously hard ride.
How hard was it? Well, maybe this is a slight indication?
According to Glenn, who took this picture, his Garmin registered 27%, and his VDO registered 28%. And just to show you that I actually did this, take a look at the grimace on my face … dang, it looks painful just to look at this:
I had to tack this hill all the way up. Even then, I had to stop, and dismount half way up. This wasn’t due to lack of leg strength, but that my arm strength wasn’t strong enough to support me climbing up. My heart rate climbed up to 185 bpm, with my HRM beeping like crazy. But at least I made it up to the top.
Now I can’t say this ride was completely painful. We did take a nice ride through Golden Gate park, and stopped by the Polo fields, where they do a hammer fest on Tuesdays and Thursday nights. Just imagine riding through this completely in the dark, but with everyone carrying the brightest possible lights you can mount on a bike:
After a short break, we headed for Twin Peaks, which hovers over the entire city. Got some gorgeous views from up there.
Here’s another doozy we did, but not as bad … still got my heart working really hard (as well as my legs):
Now the original plan of the ride was to do some “warm up” miles in SF, then head over Golden Gate Bridge, and continue on to Mt. Tam, then do the Marin Headlands. However, the “warm up” miles were really hard climbs, and after 30 miles and roughly 3300 feet climbing, it took a lot out of me. Pete and I decided to call it a day, and proceeded back to the Sport Base Ment parking lot. Still got in a good ride, with 30 miles and 3600 feet climbing.
More pics at http://spingineer.smugmug.com/gallery/7298761_fdXky/1/469684401_mNEPD
Tomorrow will be a stark contrast to today’s ride. It is dubbed the “slowpoke” ride, which will be a nice change. Maybe I’ll bring my folder bike. I would bring my recumbent, but I can’t figure out how to transport that in my car.
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