SaiKaiTai

But when those 15 miles look like this, I guess it's OK.

OK for me, anyway

Sure, I've done A 50 and 2 or 3 40s, a fair amount of 25-30s but if there's one thing I can do on automatic now, it's the 15-20 mile ride. I am not a speedy rider so when I go out for lunch or after work, I know that I'm good for 15-20 miles in an hour and half. That's just what I can do. And, let's face it, and hour and a half lunch is about as far as I care to push it.

But, after a while of the same old, same old day in and day out you crave change... maybe a little bit of danger, eh? How about Devil's Slide?

I've left town to the north, I've left to the east. Can't go west unless I want to do a triathalon so that leaves the southern route. And I've always been afraid to try. Sure, it's a pretty steep climb that goes on for a while but it's not that... it's the cars. I've driven this route many, many, many times and when I look out the window and think as a cyclist, it scares me. Where there is a rideable shoulder, it's maybe 8 or 9" wide. More often you're out hugging the edge of the lane -and it's just one lane up and one lane down- around blind turns, dodging fallen branches and broken glass and all the roadside detritus that comes with our modern society. Someone cuts that apex a little short? Dead cyclist. So, yeah, I've kind of avoided it... though the drive sure is beautiful. So why the name? Well, it's a treacherous stretch of road. Folks routinely drive over the edge to the Pacific, below. Like, a couple hundred feet below. And, if you so much as say "winter rain", the road will wash out or rock slides will bury it. I'll tell you about our wedding sometime...

Anyway, the only way to conquer your fear is to confront your fear. So.... what could I do?
After years and yearsandyearsandyears... a bypass was approved and they're building it now including the bridge over the Shamrock Valley to connect the highway to the new tunnel they're building (which will have a separate bike lane!). I wanted to ride up and see the work up close and personal.

Well...

I knew I was heading for a turn out but the first time up, I stopped at the wrong one. It was a service road, not the bridge entrance. That first try didn't scare me enough so last week was the second try and this time I made it. Took too hard a pace so I struggled and when I went for a lower gear, I had no more left. Yuck. But I made it and the 40mph ride down around the bends was worth it. Still, I am made of sterner stuff so today was the third time I went up. It's best if you don't think too much about the cars, I find. Anyway, I started at a saner pace did 75% of the ride in my 30/25; used my 30/27 at the end more, really, to give my heart a little break. I find I am now physically capable of more that my doctor says my HR should max out at but I try to take it easy on myself. Mostly.

And, wow, I made all the way up, 1.3 miles of this. And I could have done more. This is from the Lap 3 mark to the end (in the upper right of the photo is Roberts Road. Yes, you know about that one, I know)


And the 43.5mph ride down was even better than last week's 40

Suzie Green

Good job! Ain't gravity fun (well at least in 1 direction)?

Mojo Slim

Nice going. I can't wait to get down there and ride some of these routes with you!

Long deKlein

From reading BF, I've gotten the impression that some people actually enjoy climbing. Personally, I just put up with it to get to the downhill side. Pushing 50MPH on the bike is a bigger rush than anything, shall we say, artificially induced I ever tried in my wilder days (especially unbanked or reverse banked curves!).

SaiKaiTai

"Enjoy"? "Enjoy"??? Is that right word for it? I don't know.
I do get something out of it... I guess I just want to prove I can do it, I suppose

But, without the uphill, there is no downhill and that is beaucoup fun
Could do with out the off-camber stuff though.... way too edgy for me

gcottay

I know this is slightly off topic,SaiKaiTai, but how did you generate those great charts?

SaiKaiTai

I have a Garmin Edge 305 and dump the data down to my Mac using Ascent, a Mac-only, tracking app.
Ascent does the rest