High Cliff High

2019 Outdoor Season: Ride #32

The Route: High Cliff State Park Climb

The Miles: 31.0

The Time: 2:25

The Ave. Speed: 12.9 mph

The Weather:

Sunny and windy

81 degrees

Wind, 10-15 mph

Season Total Miles: 674

Man, ride #32 of the season will go down as one of the best!

(and one of the longest too)

I am on a High Cliff 'high' right now as I write this blog after a well-deserved shower.

Today was a good one, a ride that I dedicated to my friend Jerry Pearce, recovering after he crashed down in Florida trying to avoid a kid. Yikes.

Before I get into the adventure, I'd also like to thank a guy I don't even know, but after reading my Saturday post about the construction that kept me from attempting the climb on Saturday he sent me a note with a recommendation for an alternate route to get me there.

It worked.

I took that route out with the idea that I would attempt something big today despite a lot of wind and a mind that wasn't really sure I was ready for this today as I set out.

Using this alternative route I was taken through two roundabouts, which was OK because it all felt very Tour de France-like to me.

Heading out is a funny thing because there was a tailwind most of the way. You sit up and try to save your legs for what's to come. You know you will be going into the pain locker, yet you keep heading toward the door despite that fact. And all along the way all I could think about was the fact that I would have to face headwind for at least eight miles in a row coming back home, a wind blowing at 10-15 mph.

Onward.

The route worked perfectly. Into the park I went. I had even planned ahead and gobbled down a couple of energy Bloks before the climb to give my legs a little something in the tank.

I made about 7/10ths of the climb up at a nice steady pace in the saddle. It was only at that top section that ramps up at a very short, steep gradient that I struggled out of the saddle for a bit until my quads couldn't take it any longer. By the time I hit the summit I was huffing and puffing like a chimney in the middle of the polar vortex!

But by GOD I did it. I made the climb up to the tower where I took a brief break for a bar before heading back and this time into the wind. Perhaps I was inspired by Julian Alaphilippe at Le Tour because I took the steep descent a lot faster than I usually do, hitting over 35 mph easily as I did the sweeping turns.

I missed my turn into the residential area that I had come out of on the way out. This WAS after all my first time taking these roads. I saw it at the time but doubted myself, unsure it looked right to me. So I continued on and out of my way a bit. The only damage done was that I had to ride a slightly-busier street for a time in town until a nice bike lane came along.

The headwind was almost worst at times than the earlier climb. Yet I never really struggled all that bad. I kept the tank full with water and Bloks and actually felt good for almost the entire ride.

Just me and the bike soaking up sun. It seemed like everyone else had gone back to work on a Monday.

Me?

I went back to High Cliff State Park!