Today I saddled up and took a long ride on the bike, about 20 miles round-trip I believe. Crossed the Shenandoah River at a little one-lane bridge.
The GPS didn't start working for the first three miles. Blackberry GPS's are like that: they expect to have a working data connection, and if they don't have it, they'll keep looking, sometimes for hours, even though the GPS satellites are coming in loud and clear. Oh, well.
Here's the aerial view:
This was the most exhausting ride I have ever done. Nothin' but hills. I pedalled up one hill on the opposite side of the river from an elevation of 550 feet to an elevation of 850 feet. The road was "paved" with dusty, powdery dirt and gravel, and it was so steep that it was difficult to balance the bike: I had to lean forward to avoid toppling over backwards, but if I leaned forward too much, the rear wheel would lose traction. At the top of that hill, I decided, "OK, that's all I can take!" and I turned around and descended the hill; that's the steep drop in the graph.
Wheeeeee!
Over thirty minutes to climb, and then back down in about two minutes.
On the way back I stopped at the little campground store and bought an orange Popsicle: 35 cents. Best-tasting Popsicle I ever had!
I was gone four and a half hours and I was near collapse when I got home. I had plenty of water; I took a Camelback with three trays of ice cubes... I'm just outta shape!
The GPS didn't start working for the first three miles. Blackberry GPS's are like that: they expect to have a working data connection, and if they don't have it, they'll keep looking, sometimes for hours, even though the GPS satellites are coming in loud and clear. Oh, well.
Here's the aerial view:
This was the most exhausting ride I have ever done. Nothin' but hills. I pedalled up one hill on the opposite side of the river from an elevation of 550 feet to an elevation of 850 feet. The road was "paved" with dusty, powdery dirt and gravel, and it was so steep that it was difficult to balance the bike: I had to lean forward to avoid toppling over backwards, but if I leaned forward too much, the rear wheel would lose traction. At the top of that hill, I decided, "OK, that's all I can take!" and I turned around and descended the hill; that's the steep drop in the graph.
Wheeeeee!Over thirty minutes to climb, and then back down in about two minutes.
On the way back I stopped at the little campground store and bought an orange Popsicle: 35 cents. Best-tasting Popsicle I ever had!
I was gone four and a half hours and I was near collapse when I got home. I had plenty of water; I took a Camelback with three trays of ice cubes... I'm just outta shape!
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1 comment:
Woof!
That's not a terrain feature we have to deal with much around here. :)
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