Was that my ears popping!!? or just my aorta rupturing? A nice guy (for the sake of anonymity we will just call him "Adam") mapped out a bit of a ride for me yesterday. I wanted to do a bit of climbing while in the mountains. Climbing, I got. The first little hill was in all actuality an 1,800 ft tall mountain rising a thousand feet above Roanoke, VA.I did NOT feel like I was going to die, or vomit, or any other such weak feelings. I did however have very fond thoughts of going the other direction and for taking 'picture breaks'. Did you know that it is nigh on impossible to clip back into your pedals while trying to start out going up hill. For that reason I ended up only
using the photo excuse for one picture on the way up. For my success on this climb I would like to thank my mother, father, and the really little chain ring on my bike.I have provided, for your enjoyment, a nice picture of my trusty steed against a stunning valley backdrop which you can hardly see and a trash receptacle that you can. The top of Mill mountain boasts a park, an overlook, a vending machine, a zoo, and really big illuminated star that is just to the right of the picture. I did not go to the zoo, eat at the park, use the vending machine and will not post a picture of the star. For all Roanoke is very proud of their star, it is a rather ugly and unimpressive structure that we could happily ignore if it were not a 100 ft tall heap of metal and neon lights.
With temperatures soaring nearly to the upper fifties, I about froze my hands to the handle bars descending the backside of the mountain. I should probably say something about the flora and fauna and whotnot. Well, I won't; it is just a beautiful ride on a nice road with light traffic. I would like to see it in summer sometime.
Next up? Roanoke mountain.
Roanoke mountain drive off the Blue Ridge park way is by far the most superlative laden ride I have ever taken.
Can you say granny gear? I can't, I am trying to catch my breath.
Yeah that little hill down there? that's the first mountain I climbed today.
2,000 ft and barely breaking a sweat. Never mind that I was averaging about 7mph up this thing. I felt much better by this point in the ride and enjoying myself more than strictly necessary. What you can't tell from the picture is that I am about to partake of a tasty powerbar snack.The top of Roanoke Mountain is about 2,200 ft above sea level and 1,400 ft above the city where I started. The new blog banner is a photo from the summit. If you ever get a chance to spin a bike up this mountain, do it. If no chances come up, make one.
For every climb there is a decent. I considered trying to video tape the road down but am glad I did not. It would probably have found it's way on to YouTube among the famous last videos category. The first drop was a long, steep, pothole hosting, straight away. I could have probably coasted to over 50 mph down it. That would have been great fun right up until the 180 degree hair pin turn at the bottom. Did I mention that I now might need new break pads? The whole 1000 or so foot drop was like that; steep inclines, sharp turns, and smoking hot breaks. Ok so I have injected a little hyperbole throughout this post.
The ride back into town, over the shoulder of Mill mountain, was just plain awesome. Back on open roads I could finnaly just let go on the decents. This was the kind of decent that I have dreamed of for years. My legs were actually feeling better and stronger as teh ride went on, so I was able to drag my average speed up from an embarrasing 7 or so mph to above 10 for the whole trip.
Once back into town I chased cars all the back to my friends house and took a delightful nap. For now this stands as the ride of my life. I terms of shear awesome anyway. The 109 miler my cousin and I did last year still stands as biking triumph #1.
Sam's Summary
For every climb there is a decent. I considered trying to video tape the road down but am glad I did not. It would probably have found it's way on to YouTube among the famous last videos category. The first drop was a long, steep, pothole hosting, straight away. I could have probably coasted to over 50 mph down it. That would have been great fun right up until the 180 degree hair pin turn at the bottom. Did I mention that I now might need new break pads? The whole 1000 or so foot drop was like that; steep inclines, sharp turns, and smoking hot breaks. Ok so I have injected a little hyperbole throughout this post.
The ride back into town, over the shoulder of Mill mountain, was just plain awesome. Back on open roads I could finnaly just let go on the decents. This was the kind of decent that I have dreamed of for years. My legs were actually feeling better and stronger as teh ride went on, so I was able to drag my average speed up from an embarrasing 7 or so mph to above 10 for the whole trip.
Once back into town I chased cars all the back to my friends house and took a delightful nap. For now this stands as the ride of my life. I terms of shear awesome anyway. The 109 miler my cousin and I did last year still stands as biking triumph #1.
Sam's Summary
- This was a longe entry
- I rode up a mountian
- I made fun of what I found there
- I froze down the mountain
- I road up a bigger mountain
- I liked it... alot.
- I ate a power bar
- I scared my self silly going down the mountain.
- The local bikers are nice and give helpful directions.
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