Spring Break is almost over and everyone has taken some time off except for me. I've been the only one at the office for most of the week. Even my wife and boys are out of town. It started out slow as far as getting any rides in. Since I was the only one here to cover the office, riding time was slim pickins during the first part of the week. All is not lost though. The week is ending on a good note. I got in 40 miles yesterday with a good climb the last 7 miles.
Today I had to see two patients over in Eagar so as luck would have it, my bike was already loaded in the van. Eagar is small town about 50 miles east of Pinetop and for the most part it is most flat and usually windy. They do have the best climb around though. We call it the Big Lake Climb and when the road is open it's a 7 mile climb to the top. It's the closest thing we have to anything comparable to the percent grade of the Ironhorse Bicycle Classic. Since I was going over anyway, my goal was to ride the climb just to see how I felt. The last patient took a little longer so I didn't get started until about 3:45.
As I started the climb the wind was already miserable. This is a town which was actually mentioned on the game show Jeopardy as the windiest town in the U.S. The cool thing about climbing into a headwind is of course you have a tailwind coming down. I'll talk about that in a second. Minus the wind, the climb was beautiful. I hadn't ridden this road in almost two years and it just amazes me how gorgeous it is as you climb up. My intention was to ride the entire 7 miles up but at mile 4 I found out the road was closed. Apparently there are still snow drifts at the top. I wanted to go farther but it would be my luck I'd get busted for going past the road closure signs. So I turned back.
The ride down is a blast. I did realize one thing though.......I suck at descending. I'm such a wuss. I've hit 60mph before on this descent but today I didn't have the guts to go faster than 41mph. I realized this is something I've really got to work on before the Ironhorse. It's not going to do me anygood if I can climb fairly descent if I just get passed by everyone on the descent. Now don't get me wrong, I have no intent on being first on the climb, but I don't want to climb my butt off only to be smoked on the downhill.
I did the climb twice and did a little better on the second go. Both up and down was faster on the second run. My regret is that I get so caught up in the training that I missed most of "The Ride". The variety of trees on the way up is beautiful, the sound of the wind through the trees, the snow near the top of the climb, the view down below as you twist up the switchbacks.....these are the things I need to start paying attention to. These are the real reasons to ride. And my favorite sound......the sound of the rubber on the road when you have a tailwind. It is so awesome. With the wind at your back you can hear every little sound the bike makes as it flys down the mountain. It's not often you get to hear it, but when you do it is such a rush. This is the moment on the bike that I love the most.
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