Mark B
Zen MBB Master
Today, one of our club members hosted a climbing ride up in the mountains. It was a nice day and the climbing was almost constant. The worst grind was a stretch that featured some 15-16% extended grades. I was fine, the Silvio was fine, my legs were fine, but my lungs were sucking hard core! We were at 6-7000 feet and on the steeper stuff, I just could NOT catch my breath, try as I might! I ended up stopping a few times and the good news is, I had no troubes getting restarted, though I did have to resort to the "ratcheting" method I spoke of in another thread a couple times. I did meet my match totally on a street in the town of Running Springs. We were kind of piddling along, rounded a corner and BAM!!! 25% grade! I started up it just find and would probably have cleared it except for the pine needles and sand. My front tire was spinning enough I knew it was pointless, so I unclipped, got off and walked to a clear spot of pavement and took off again. We only rode a total of 20 miles, but our overall gain was something like 3000 feet of climbing. We finished up at the home of our host with a BBQ and a few beers. I was not the fastest climber, nor was I the slowest. I was smack dab in the middle. I was, however, hands down the fastest descender!
Mark
Mark
