Last month we aimed for 5,000 feet. This month we can shoot for 6,000, no?



Funny story. Yesterday I spent the day at my uncle's lodge in a mountainous area of NY, near a lake. His lodge was set back from the lake a ways, about 200 feet in elevation (honestly it was like a 25% grade). It was so steep that they simply do not bother walking to the shore, they walked up the hill once, then bought a golf cart to go up the hill and never walked up the hill again (in over 15 years!). There were about 16 of us, and they could only take us up the hill 3 at a time, so I decided to walk instead of waiting forever for the cart. At first my cousins, in-laws, and various other family members thought I was just joking when I said I would walk up the hill, what with me being 400ish pounds and them all 200 and lower. So... I started walking. Not wanting to be one-upped by a fatty, some of the more athletic young men decided to start walking up as well...

I made it up first, and I barely broke a sweat. Two others gave up halfway up the hill and decided to wait for the cart. One other, a police officer, had to stop several times, and was out of breath for 10 minutes afterwards. No one could believe I made it up the hill. It was fun, and I told them my secret was that I've been hitting up the hills on my bike in earnest for the past 2 months.

So anyway that's one real-world benefit of hill climbing.


Last month I did 12,012 feet. This month I'll increase that by 10% at a minimum for 13,200 feet.