bpcyclist

Thanks again to everybody who has contributed to this thread. So, I did do Mt. Scott again. I won't bore you with all the statistics but it is pretty steep in spots, pretty long, and has a pretty good little elevation gain. I tend to ride before the sun comes up and so I made it up to the summit in the dark. Probably actually helped me, since I couldn't really see until I got to the top. I caught my wind at the top and enjoyed the city view, but I gotta say, I got a kind of vertigo situation going on and had to turn away. Decided I better just go. Which I did. Coming down, as mentioned by some of you, is way, way scarier for me than going up. Up is cake for me. But down, my heights problem really kicks in when it is steep or there is a dropoff to the side, both of which were the case. So, what I did was, I decided to shrink my universe. I didn't look. I just did not look. I kept my head down and my eyes on the road immediately before me and I rode down the hill. Obviously, I had to look up from time to time to be sure there were no obstacles ahead, but for the most part, I existed in a small piece of real estate right around my bike. And the fear kind of just got much better. Still some there, but it was doable.

So, progress, I think. Gonna keep working on this and see where it goes. And I won't push it. I agree, that would be a very bad idea. Still may need a therapist, which is fine. I already have one for my bipolar thing. Not a big deal. Onward!

chainwhip

congrats!

Carbonfiberboy 

Absolutely, you gotta compartmentalize and concentrate. Really, it doesn't matter what you're doing or what's happening, concentrating on the moment is the thing. Not just then, all the time. Any time you're on the bike, there's danger and challenge. Even on the trainer the challenge is there, just not the danger. I can't figure out why people would watch TV on the trainer, when what's happening to your bike and body is much more interesting. One of the reasons I love to ride tandem with my wife is that I can completely focus on the bike, what's around me, and the challenges. She navigates and time-keeps, etc. And pedals her heart out. The Zen of Cycling, I suppose.

All the artists and craftspeople I know say the same thing: the moment you say to yourself, "This is going well." you just screwed something up. You lost concentration for an instant.

bpcyclist

Thanks for that. And I must say, I also really appreciate your remarks about the trainer. As ridiculous as it probably will sound, I have come pretty close to falling off mine before.

firebird854

This post suddenly resonates with me. I'm a Wisconsin native and love climbing in general, I've done 100mi routes with 10k+ feet of climbing and enjoyed them fully. However, I just finished a trip out to Califonia for Phil's Cookie Fondo, this was my first time experiencing actual mountains. The fondo itself was easier than I expected as the couple thousand feet descents give you plenty of time to recover. However, each descent where it was a road carved into the side of a mountain with no shoulder and little if any guardrail definitely gave me some of the feelings you described. There was even a very specific moment on a descent with the Pacific ocean over a sheer cliff going down a thousand or so feet just beside me, the road was easily -20% grade and doing a very windy turn, the wind had kicked up with a buffetting 16mph or so gusting in waves. I took a few deep breaths and had to physically tell myself to relax and keep everything steady.

Other riders, in general, didn't seem to have much issue, I've always loved climbing and have zero issue zipping by on the ascents, but those descents can be a bit maddening. I think it comes with a bit of practice if I were used to flying down mountains (more than this one, singular, experience) it likely wouldn't be the same.

I will say though, MVP of the ride was my disc breaks, I've melted rubber brakes in Wisconsin before lol, I can almost guarantee I would be walking down on parts if I couldn't just keep on braking with the disc breaks for a half an hour at a time.