I’d been promising myself I would do this for awhile, but I finally got around to it: I rode up Page Mill Road! It’s a long and fairly steep climb, about 8.5 miles of climbing to Skyline Blvd. at the top of a ridge. It’s one of the tougher routes on the Peninsula.
I wasn’t sure if I could do it. You may recall I attempted it a few weeks before the Ride, ran out of time to finish the ascent, and turned back. I wasn’t sure whether I’d have been able to finish the climb, as I was running out of energy around the point where I turned back. So I wanted to tackle it again, just to prove to myself that I could.
And I did! It wasn’t nearly as hard as I’d been thinking it was–I stopped to rest once or twice going uphill, and it took me about an hour and a half to climb, but I never got terribly out of breath and I managed to climb it all with energy to spare! I guess I’m in better shape than I thought.
Now, of course, I’ve immediately switched from “Can I climb this at all?” to “Can I climb this fast enough?” In order to do the Markleeville Death Ride, I’m going to have to average 12-14 mph up and down hills…my climb today was good, but not nearly fast enough to finish the Death Ride. Clearly I will have to practice some more. 🙂
Current plan: ride Page Mill Road (or an equivalent climb) once a week for the rest of the summer. I think I’ll get to be a stronger rider if I do.
