Touring - Tour de Maggot

This is for my friend Al...

He picked me up at 10:30 this morning to take the touring bikes out for a shake down ride and I deemed it the "Tour de Maggot" since both of us are still pretty pasty from a long Canadian winter and in the process of tuning up the bodies.

We rode 32 km through and in and out of the river valley which has some decent climbs where the grades can get up to the point where many will opt to walk rather than ride... think one 2 km stretch is a pretty consistent 12% and a few shorter sections and run ups exceed that.

Best quote of the day was after I decided we should drop back into the valley and my friend said "We really don't have to go down again".

Best moment was passing a bunch of high school kids who were dying on that 12% climb and there was no way a guy on the near side of fifty and another who is on the near side of 70 were going to get off and walk... although many of these kids were.

Felt good through the entire ride... touring bike was 47 pounds as dressed and really had no problem with anything... a beautiful red head on a Dutch roadster passed us on an easy climb... she is my friend's wife and her bike has an electric assist up front.

I had a short lived career taking cars from trains to trucks where there was a 12 to 15% grade... congrats, you are as powerful, maybe moreso, than a prius. :D

I had a short lived career taking cars from trains to trucks where there was a 12 to 15% grade... congrats, you are as powerful, maybe moreso, than a prius. :D

:D

And even more fuel efficient.

I will take that as a compliment... have been working myself back into some semblance of shape and hope to go out for 2-3 days and 200-300 km in a few weeks with a full load of gear and do a little camping out, sightseeing, and visit family.

I have a leg that does not work at 100% and took a bad fall in December so was actually pretty pleased I did not have to do the walk of shame since I don't walk well in the first place... f'ing up my ankles when I fell did me no favours there either.

I seem to have gotten a touch of sun so won't look look such a maggot the next time I get out and being able to ride should keep my shape from resembling one of those grubs.

Tour de Maggot - I might have to borrow that for my shakedown ride next week after my new front rack arrives. I'm feeling a bit pasty and grub-like myself these days. I'm sure southern Idaho winters are a lot more mild than your Canadian winters, but man I am a total baby in the cold. Or, rather, a total bear, seeing as I more or less hibernated from November to April.

Good article Keith and thanks for not mentioning that in the end I did walk a short distance, on a different hill, and those teenagers weren't around. We are going to have to do it again next week.

Good article Keith and thanks for not mentioning that in the end I did walk a short distance, on a different hill, and those teenagers weren't around. We are going to have to do it again next week.

Sounds like an excellent idea... took the Proctor out today and enjoyed being able to idle along on a bike that is less than half the weight of my partially loaded touring bike... it idles at around 30kmh.

You're still pretty fast for an old maggot with a dodgy leg, 65-er. Maybe you should keep the engine and replace the transmission?