less little, more middle

since this morning was my last ride at higher elevations, i decided to make it a memorable one. from the first pedal stroke, i aimed at making this my fastest out and back. no sense going out with a whimper.

i started out descending like a madman. in the dim light that barely illumined the road down from quaker ridge, i had a couple of near disasters. i felt my body going forward a bit too far a couple of times, but threw my weight backwards enough to keep from flying over the handlebars. i crossed the grate at the entrance in 6'32", a minute at thirteen seconds faster than yesterday.

i couldn't savor that accomplishment for long. shortly after slipping across the highway to the bike path, the first and perhaps the longest of the trail's climbs began. for almost a mile and half, i pushed hard in my middle ring. my breathing was hard, but steady. my heartbeat rapid, but not near my redline. the other times i'd climbed this ascent, i'd shifted to the small ring. not today. i got near the bottom of the middle ring's ratios, but didn't give in to the urge to make life easier and slower. i crested and enjoyed a brief reprieve from the pain before the next climb.

that next climb is much shorter - only a quarter mile or so - but it is a doozie. not sure on the grade, but there are short sections that are steeper than the 7% near the top of the camp road. i somehow managed to turn the cranks and go up and over this mini-monster without downshifting.

for the next half mile or maybe a little more, i was able to recover on the slight downhill that runs passed the golf course. i brought my breathing and heartrate back under control and then started the next ascent, a longish climb, but not as steep as either of the first two. i felt pretty good on this one, but finally had to down shift when i hit the steepest section of the entire ride just before the descent to the city limits of woodland park.

entering the city, i climbed as fast as i could. my aim was to beat thirty-six minutes, the time it took me to ride to my turn around from the bottom of the camp road the first day. i bested that time. i got to the turn around in 35'45". if you subtract my camp road descent time, that means i covered the same distance that took me thirty-six minutes the first day in 29'13". when i did the math, i was pretty proud of my accomplishment.

without a break, i rolled right back up to the top of the descent that took me out of woodland park. the only thing that ruined the joy of this downhill was the multiple stop signs that slowed me down a bit. still, i was able to enjoy some active recovery riding, spinning my cranks as i plunged down the hill.

the ascents on the way back to the camp road aren't nearly as bad as those encountered on the way into town. though you'd never guess it in a car, the road is mostly downhill. i rode up and over the few little climbs in my middle ring. one i didn't even drop from the big ring to master.

it was just before 6:30 when i ducked under the highway and came up to the camp road for my final assault of the formerly dreaded hill. i intended to look at my time before i began, but i looked at the wrong numbers and so i don't have an accurate climb time. it was somewhere under eighteen minutes. that's all i can say. i pushed the middle ring all the way to the 7% grade and then dropped into my little ring. i'm not in good enough high altitude shape yet to do that in the middle ring. it's a bummer that i have to leave this afternoon. another week here and i'd be flying up the hill.

i'm happy with the riding i got in this week. it was way more miles and time than i thought i would get when i thought of this week early this year. i thought i wouldn't get any miles since i hadn't been able to bring my bike in the past. i'm glad it worked out this time. i've had fun.

goodbye, woodland park. you will be missed. (15.31 miles @ 12.9mph)