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03-23-08, 01:12 PM
Sometimes I wonder if I hear voices ... yesterday, after an invigorating Easter Saturday Ride, I thought of this forum -- and I'm sure I wasn't the only one... and I thought "Clydesdales-Athenas: Home of the cycling Heavy Artillery"
I'd lost a lot of shape being sick recently, but with my newly built up ride having passed a few solid test rides, and myself just barely passing muster, I decided to crank it up a notch and go for the "big hill."
To some it's a mere bump, but for a Clyde and a damaged-goods clydesdale emeritus like myself (hey I'm still only 1/2 lb under the bar :{), the big hill means about a 3/4 of a mile to a mile of 7-15% gradients, with some spots approaching 18 % or so. This goliath comes about 4 minutes into my ride, to really get the blood pumping. Naturally, it reappears on the return trip, about 4 minutes from the end. It offers plenty of those double-digit gradients that make Clydes question their speedometers ("three-point what???") and grateful for any large sprockets they have in the back.
From the summit, you can see the Empire State Building some 20 miles away, when the trees are bare of leaves, and it's even more spectacular at night, adding the Throgg's Neck and Whitestone Bridges, The Chrysler Building and others.
Then it gives way to a 25 - 30 mph descent that is riddled with stop signs and intersections. Coming back downhill, ... well there is a speed limit in effect, that is easy to exceed even on a bike.
Then it gives way to a more moderate descent leading into one of two final climbs. This penultimate climb has a gentle 5 or 6 % grade that I just love crank hard standing up.
Knowing that the end is near it's great feeling to blast a sprint out of the saddle with a little momentum, making a otherwise stiff climb a feeling of triumph, and a grey-whiskered war horse feel like the heavy artillery again. Oooh Yeaah!
I'm betting there's quite a few of us gravity magnets that enjoy a good blast at the end of a ride.
Let's hear it from the rest of you...
I'd lost a lot of shape being sick recently, but with my newly built up ride having passed a few solid test rides, and myself just barely passing muster, I decided to crank it up a notch and go for the "big hill."
To some it's a mere bump, but for a Clyde and a damaged-goods clydesdale emeritus like myself (hey I'm still only 1/2 lb under the bar :{), the big hill means about a 3/4 of a mile to a mile of 7-15% gradients, with some spots approaching 18 % or so. This goliath comes about 4 minutes into my ride, to really get the blood pumping. Naturally, it reappears on the return trip, about 4 minutes from the end. It offers plenty of those double-digit gradients that make Clydes question their speedometers ("three-point what???") and grateful for any large sprockets they have in the back.
From the summit, you can see the Empire State Building some 20 miles away, when the trees are bare of leaves, and it's even more spectacular at night, adding the Throgg's Neck and Whitestone Bridges, The Chrysler Building and others.
Then it gives way to a 25 - 30 mph descent that is riddled with stop signs and intersections. Coming back downhill, ... well there is a speed limit in effect, that is easy to exceed even on a bike.
Then it gives way to a more moderate descent leading into one of two final climbs. This penultimate climb has a gentle 5 or 6 % grade that I just love crank hard standing up.
Knowing that the end is near it's great feeling to blast a sprint out of the saddle with a little momentum, making a otherwise stiff climb a feeling of triumph, and a grey-whiskered war horse feel like the heavy artillery again. Oooh Yeaah!
I'm betting there's quite a few of us gravity magnets that enjoy a good blast at the end of a ride.
Let's hear it from the rest of you...