Saturday Morning Aptos Hills Ride
This morning, Karyn, her friends (Heidi and Steve) and I took another ride in the Aptos Hills. The route can be found here. This time, we rode up and down Hames road. The route was about 17 miles long with roughly 1000 feet of climbing. Most of the climbing was in the first 7.5 miles. It made for a nice workout.
Today, we probably climbed 800 feet in 7.5 miles. The Swanton hill is about 400 feet climbing in 1 mile. The toughest climb that I have made is up Empire Grade (2000 feet in 12 miles). I have been watching the Tour De France this week. On Thursday, they had a very difficult day in the Pyranees Mountains. They had one mountain climb of over 6000 feet in 11 miles! Plus there were 4 other mountain climbs that day. The total mileage for the day was over 120. And if that is not bad enough, next week they head for the Alps, which they say is even tougher.
This just stuns me. I understand that I will never climb these mountains as fast as professional cyclists. I also understand that these riders are considerably younger than I am. However I am not sure that I will EVER be able to climb these mountains at all, much less as fast as them. I struggle to the top of Empire Grade and it just exhausts me. The Tour De France climb on Thursday is THREE times steeper! Yeah I need to ride more hills, but it is just astounding what these cyclists can do.
One side note, this mountain climb was first introduced in the Tour De France in the 30s or 40s. After the climb, the cyclists accused the tour organizers of being murderers for including this climb in the race!
Today, we probably climbed 800 feet in 7.5 miles. The Swanton hill is about 400 feet climbing in 1 mile. The toughest climb that I have made is up Empire Grade (2000 feet in 12 miles). I have been watching the Tour De France this week. On Thursday, they had a very difficult day in the Pyranees Mountains. They had one mountain climb of over 6000 feet in 11 miles! Plus there were 4 other mountain climbs that day. The total mileage for the day was over 120. And if that is not bad enough, next week they head for the Alps, which they say is even tougher.
This just stuns me. I understand that I will never climb these mountains as fast as professional cyclists. I also understand that these riders are considerably younger than I am. However I am not sure that I will EVER be able to climb these mountains at all, much less as fast as them. I struggle to the top of Empire Grade and it just exhausts me. The Tour De France climb on Thursday is THREE times steeper! Yeah I need to ride more hills, but it is just astounding what these cyclists can do.
One side note, this mountain climb was first introduced in the Tour De France in the 30s or 40s. After the climb, the cyclists accused the tour organizers of being murderers for including this climb in the race!
posted by Steve @ 12:45 PM
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