I got home from work last night, the sun was out and the sky was clear and blue. I decided that it was time to ride up the back side of Bald Peak. In August, I am riding the Mt. Shasta Super Summit Century which is 135 miles with 16,500 feet of climbing. Yes, that is over 3 miles of elevation gain. I figure the best way to prepare is to go out and climb. This is what I have been doing the last few weeks. Saturday's have been reserved for recuperation rides because my legs are shot by Saturday morning. The back side of Bald Peak is 5 miles of up without relenting with 1800 feet of elevation gain - averages 6.8%. There are no flat spots like the Newberg side. I decided to take the a bit shorter route and start on Laurel instead of Bald Peak Road. This cut out about a mile. This means the average grade is 8.5% - a little bit different. The ride was great but tough. There were times I looked down at the Garmin, the grade was 15% and I am going 5 MPH. Crazy! I thought about stopping for a break a few times but resisted the urge. There were several moments of joy when I could look down and see 6% on the Garmin. It never felt so good. I'll admit the hardest part was about a half mile from the top. The road hair pins and then pitches up steeply. The legs are already screaming from the previous 3 1/2 miles of up and then this harsh grade. Cruel! Who designed this road? Who decided to ride up this way today? Yeah! It was a good ride and I felt it today when I went out and did a recovery ride with only 2K worth of up. For the week so far, 92 miles with 6,700 feet of climbing. I'll get some more tomorrow and probably end up near 9K. Got to be ready for August.
Time to get back to watching the NCAA tourney - my bracket is blown up but no worries, it is a great tourney so far!
