I kept hearing around the Tri Club circle about this route that has an exuberant number of decent hills and even though the thought of it was enough to make my blood run cold, something inside of me wanted to be part of that elusive group of individuals. I too wanted to say that I had ridden those hills and survived. I too wanted to fly the badge of bravery and feel that I can hang with the big boys.
So today I decided to do just that with a friend who has ridden it before. There are two areas with hills and even though I wanted to do both I knew it wise to tackle only one of those today otherwise it could have turned my ride into a century ride full of hills - not sure if I wanted to push myself to that distance just yet.
This route that we chose although not totally hectic with traffic can at times leave you a few inches away from some very big trucks. This is the closest I would ever like to be but am glad to say that they don't scare me like they used to.
The one thing I struggle with when doing hills is that although I don't find it hard in getting out of the saddle to climb, it's the length of time I can do it for. I seem to find it a bit easier to climb the hills sitting down. But over a long period it does fatigue my legs and my back starts to ache like crazy. So this is something I definately need to work on.
I'm getting there. I feel like I am getting stronger and more determined to succeed. I like this feeling.
So today I decided to do just that with a friend who has ridden it before. There are two areas with hills and even though I wanted to do both I knew it wise to tackle only one of those today otherwise it could have turned my ride into a century ride full of hills - not sure if I wanted to push myself to that distance just yet.
This route that we chose although not totally hectic with traffic can at times leave you a few inches away from some very big trucks. This is the closest I would ever like to be but am glad to say that they don't scare me like they used to.
The one thing I struggle with when doing hills is that although I don't find it hard in getting out of the saddle to climb, it's the length of time I can do it for. I seem to find it a bit easier to climb the hills sitting down. But over a long period it does fatigue my legs and my back starts to ache like crazy. So this is something I definately need to work on.
I'm getting there. I feel like I am getting stronger and more determined to succeed. I like this feeling.
