Second HCC this week

2019 Outdoor Season: Ride #34

The Route: High Cliff Climb

The Miles: 31.0

The Time: 2:18

The Ave. Speed: 13.2 mph

The Weather:

Sunny

78 degrees

Wind, light

Season Total Miles: 735

Pulled out the old Tour de Phil jersey from Spain in 2003 for today's ride.

Question;

Can jerseys shrink while sitting in a drawer for over 10 years?

I ask because I felt like an over-stuffed Italian sausage in the thing today. I mean, it can't be that I got bigger, can it?

For some reason I had it in my head today, inspired by yet another outstanding weather day, that I would take the High Cliff State Park climb route again, only this time NOT miss my turn on the way home and do the route the way it should be done.

Clearly my head was not into this 100% because right up until I hit the road I wasn't sure if I'd even attempt it after yesterday's 31 mile ride through the countryside.

Yet there I went, just soaking up the sunshine in the saddle. My cyclist tan is starting to come in quite nicely now.

Anyway, I got to the climb without issue and told myself to just go slowly up at a steady pace and try to make it all the way in the saddle.

I made it up to the final steep stinger and that's when I started to lose it. It became apparent I would need a boost out of the saddle to finish the job. So I popped up and about 10 seconds later I was already back down, my quads about to cramp into knots and not helping me one bit.

I finished the climb looking like one of those guys in the Tour de France who rode hard tempo at the front for the team as it made it's way up the climb, then having done his work, pulls off from the group and can hardly keep the bike upright.

It must have looked ridiculous to anyone who might have seen me.

Still, I had done it. I had made it up to the tower for the second time this week! Man, that's something to be proud of.

So I took a little rest up there and posted a video on Twitter of me doing my imitation of Jens Voight at Le Tour before heading back.

This time on the way down I decided for sure that I am no descender. No sir, it is too frightening for me to let the bike go. I started to do it and all I could think about was how much of my skin would be ripped from the bone as I skid down the road after crashing at almost 40 mph downhill.

Nope. Time to feather the brakes. I mean, the sound of the wind gushing through your helmet and into your ears at that speed alone is enough to scare me.

My legs were just sapped, dead tired and hurting for the final few miles of the ride. I'm tired. Proud of the effort this week, but tired. Time for a little rest and recovery to avoid injuries now.