ride went a little long today

3 hours, that is. 43 miles of a planned, oh, 12. i got off canada and rode up king's mountain road. whereas i've been doing lots of short, steep hills, KMR is long (>5mi) and gradually steep (7-8% most of the way, with 11% bits). i recognized it immediately as I got on it: early on this year, after i'd decided that driving to canada and going out-and-back was too easy (ha!) i went looking around woodside. i drove all the way up to huddart park and decided i'd have to be insane to try to climb KMR.

well, it turns out that huddart is actually where it stops being easy. someone was kind enough to put "2 mi to top" and "1 mi to top" markers on the road. after "1 mi to top" the grade went up a little. at about .25 mi to the top i saw another cyclist -- he passed me at twice my speed, which was a sad 5-7mph. still, for most of the way, i stayed aerobic, which is good -- used to be i couldn't climb 100m of 7%, in any gear, without going anaerobic.

while climbing, i thought to myself that while i have climbed hills much steeper, they were all measured in yards, not miles. heh.

at the top, i took a left on skyline, thinking i'd ride to page mill, or maybe alpine, assuming one of those intersected skyline. i rode and rode for what seemed like quite a ways, up what then seemed like a boring incline, but was 5% at least. then, it went the other way. i had a good 5-10 minutes of 30mph descent through twisty roads.

WHEE.

and then, when i got to the way out, my mind was blown. it was woodside! i'd thought woodside was far behind me, but i guess KMR veers way off to the N and woodside goes a bit S. in any case, i gained an important piece of roadie knowledge from the shopkeep at the grocery there: the location of a water fountain. i asked if he could fill my bottle (having not brought enough water, not planning to go so far) and he told me there was a fountain outside. the water left an icky taste in my mouth but not as icky as the taste of defeat (thought of that somewhere around mile 35).

speaking of mile 35, i bonked a bit early today, and it sucked. that's how it goes. i pushed through and finished strong. total climb today: 3550 feet. time: slow.

anyhow, next time there's a local century i care to join, and it goes up KMR, i'll know what to expect. i'll expect to get passed by a whole bunch of people in webcor jerseys. but i'll make it to the top ;)