Rad and I had a smashing week of training that culminated in an epic climb, of which I’ll share later in this entry. Training is progressing according to schedule, and I think my form is improving nicely.
Tuesday was a wicked windstorm and I had a very bad day. I couldn’t get my legs moving so I sucked wheel the whole ride. Thursday also had some crazy weather but I was feeling better. The order was snow, ice, wind, pavement, mud, sun, and then everything back in reverse to finish off the ride. Pierce Road was a spilled paint bucket and we were completed coated with tan primer by the end of the ride. Friday I was on ice for a short easy ride.
Then, we had a near perfect riding day Saturday and we had our road bikes out on the dry pavement. The wind was kicking (as always) so we were riding sideways on Market. Lower Cove Rd. (aka Market Ln) is the best road to ride in our valley. When it is windy, try riding it clockwise. This seems counter intuitive, but somehow there is usually a calm when you get along the mountain even though the road is completely exposed. It was very nice to get out on a road bike again. I immediately ripped my bike apart when I got home because I’m making some changes.
Rad and I were still up for one more good ride before our upcoming recovery week. This time we laced on the studded MTB tires wanting to head up Mt. Emily. We made it over to Fox Hill road in a blizzard and couldn’t make it up the steepness because the snow was too thick. It was evident that cars couldn’t make it up there either. So, we turned and headed for two other climbs. The first was Owsley Canyon Rd., which was passable to the Archery Range Road. There, we rode in deep snow, the kind where you leave footprints even though you’re pedaling on your bike. Several times I was stopped between pedal strokes, but my new Nokian Extremes worked pretty well to get me through it. We both commented that it was good training, even though we were only moving about 3 mph. Then we headed straight down to Igo and out for a little loop in the valley. There, it had turned really ugly with horizontal sleet that was blasting my face. The wind-side of my lip was numb for quite some time after the ride.
We worked our way to the final climb of the day. Suddenly this beast-of-a-climb appeared through the blinding snow. . .the monster Monroe Lane climb. This climb is so long, it stretches through 3 ecosystems. The bottom flats are desert-like farmlands at 2,700 feet elevation. The road slowly began ramping up, as Rad and I forged ahead with heads tilted to limit the impact of the perforating sleet. At 2,830 We reached the Hunter Road intersection with is a good demarcation for the the beginning of the frozen tundra region of the climb. The severity of the climb had us down to a 7 mile per hour average speed, yet we were still blowing up our heart rate monitors. While climbing, we had the pleasure of viewing some of the wildlife that grazes the shallow-root fauna that grows on the tundra. White tailed deer were bounding across the road seemingly unaware of our human presence. On this day, we didn’t see the rabid dogs that scavenge the tundra. They run in packs and attack cyclists. Perhaps they had found some other prey or the native people had finally caged them. If I ever bonk on this climb due to lack of food, I will probably euthanise and consume these dogs just like Amundsen did to survive his polar expedition.
Later, upon crossing the glacier-fed spring on the road, we knew we had entered the alpine region of the ecosystem. This area is populated by hearty fruit trees from whence the name comes for the terminating point of the climb, Orchard Road at the dizzying height of 3,069 feet. The snow conditions near the summit were considerably worse and we were heaving with pain to maintain our dismal speed of 5 mph. Overall, we knocked out a 369 foot climb in an impressive 12 minutes and 11 seconds. I’m marking this in my notebook as my new time to beat on what is a new-found epic climb that ranks up with the greats like Anthony, Mont Ventoux, Timberline, and Larch Mountain.
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