Originally Posted by
nickeleye
Funny you mention that. I actually took my bike up to the office today because I'm going to start trying to ride on my lunch hour due to the time change last night. I was going to drive the route I planned out, but it wasn't raining so I figured hey, I'll just ride it instead... I knew there would be some hills on the route I planned, but didn't know how big they really were. Oops. To add insult to injury I ended up with a flat going up a hill 3-1/2 miles in and my spare tube was the wrong valve type. Felt like a total idiot for not making sure I bought a presta valve tube.
Go try out riding from Ojai out East Ojai Ave. up Ojai Santa Paula Road. I used to teach up there and the mangy old school vans often had trouble getting up it - and doubts were often expressed about brakes while going down it.