Today the temps were at 100+ and I really had no interest in anything, but I had talked big to my riding partner and wasn't going to quit first so I selected what I thought would be a flat route.
Ron was gracious enough to lube my chain this morning due to yesterday's dust, so I hoped it would be smooth sailing, flat terrain and a breeze to keep us just below the fry point.
Wrong on all accounts. The map we had was totally wrong and we climbed hill after hill only to find a dirt road at the other end. We were in the land of no where. We hit hills from 14%-18% grade; one short one in particular put my heart rate at 190...I was shaking like a leave at the top...and yes on the other side--dead end to no where. At least we went down..another fastest for me-37.2 mph.
Temp 103; lost and running out of water both of us were spent. We'd been going in circles forever. Finally we ran into another cyclists who gave us directions--we were almost back to the road where we parked but we had to climb one more monster hill. Bring it on...so I thought.
We sailed up the hill like horses to the barn only to realize it went on another few miles! The last part was killer. We were both out of water, used up all our food and Gu. My GPS shows the grade at above 20%...not sure that is accurate, but this hill did me in....I cramped in my left calf at exactly the half way point. Really dumb and I was kicking myself knowing I'm dehydrating. I barely got unclipped; another second and I would have been down. I stretched the calf but couldn't push down to clip in. One legged pedaling was not an option on this grade, so I walked 10 steps and turned back down the hill, clipped in and drove it to the top. Thanks the stars there weren't any cars because I needed the whole road.
We melted into the car, cranked the AC and tried to recover. Ron and I agreed; Wednesday would be a rest day. Our flat day ride turned out to be 3000 ft of climbing in 25 miles. With this heat that is unbelievable.
Lunch, ice cream then a nap.
3 days; totals thus far--90 miles--8090 ft --4316 calories used--
now I sleep.
RL
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