Never would I have thought that this was possible, but I biked over mountains today (and yesterday). I have always dreaded the mountains, but now I think they may be doable, seeing as I completely owned them thus far.
Now don’t get me wrong — they were hard…about the hardest thing I have ever done. But I climbed 10000 feet yesterday, and 12000 today, and we got nearly as high as one can go on the east coast — over 5600 feet. These mountains can be done.
First, a brief recap of the days since I left Chapel Hill and internet access. Our ride to Winston Salem was 85 miles, and hot. My brother and dad were going to bike with the group, but Neil’s tire blew out, so they joined us at lunchtime. Still, they rode 40 miles…and the entirety of the next day (77 miles to Taylorsville). It was great to have them along, and great to see the rest of the family in the evening. Yesterday was our first mountain – we climbed 67 miles straight into Blowing Rock and up the flank of Grandfather Mountain. And today we biked 80 miles, 70 of which were on the Blue Ridge Parkway. That just makes me feel amazing and completely hardcore…I couldn’t have done this a few weeks ago.
Random note: Tonight we ate dinner at the house of riders Sam and Maggie Kovach. It was delicious, all the more so because it was our first experience with real vegetables (not iceberg and baked beans) for some time.
Lastly, a few thoughts on climbing:
- Granny Gears: Having a compact crankset sucks for hills. Here’s wishing I had lower gears.
- Slow and steady: If you feel like the world is moving by exceedingly slowly, it is.
- Agony is expected on climbs of a high grade or long length.
- Cursing the mountain is a bad sign.
- Only disjointed thought processes are entertained, and random hill-motif songs are entertained. For example “Climb Every Mountain” and “It’s All Downhill From Here.” Sum 41 never sounded better.
Tomorrow is a build day, which is good (allows our legs to recover. We’ll need it for our 17000 feet of climbing to Gatlinburg on Wednesday.
I’m so excited!
Every experience that does not kill you makes you stronger. The agony of climbing a mountain is real. It will happen every time. Sitting here at home reading your blog, i cannot claim to have any idea what it is like to climb 17000 feet.
It is awesome that you are doing this!!
By: Smita Quinn on June 5, 2008
at 7:51 pm