Tour De Climb

Todays ride was supposed to be with a couple riding buddies, but some late night plans changed so that blew that out of the water. I was determined to get some miles in today. My fitness level is about 20% off of what it was last year. I'm not going to get it back I'm sure because at this time last year I was about 5lbs lighter. Anyway, I got started late but headed out anyway. 1st on the list was Buffalo, got that out of the way then headed onto Erwin. Didn't think I had the time to do Spivey so I figured I would get Unaka Mtn. So through the streets of Erwin over to Rock Creek rd. All the way up to the bottom of the climb my brakes felt as if they were dragging or something. Stopped briefly to check them out and nothing was wrong so I flipped the little button on the hoods of my campy levers to expand the brakes just in case. That didn't help, oh well keep pedaling. I hate climbing in the little ring up front, but for this monster I had no choice. I came through the canopy of tree leaves and started up. I was suprised how quick I got to the top! Wow, I was thinkin'. Took me a 5 min break at the top and started down. I flew down that sucker too. One more option before I headed home. Do I go up and through the laurels or over the freakin' hilly Marbleton rd? What the heck, Marbleton it is. Marbleton is a nasty little 2-3 mile road with lots of steep short blast climbs. Nice for intervals, which I did. Ha ha and I didn't have to get in the little gear up front either (pat on my back). Got back over to the Erwin hwy and cruised on in at a steady pace with the final small climb up and around Pine Oaks golf course to top it all off. 50 mile ride in the bag! I only averaged 16.9mph, I think I ride slower when I'm by myself too. If I had my buddies riding with me I'm sure we would have covered the ground a little quicker.

Tomorrow............................ riding in the dark! AM ride to work at 4am. I kinda rode the first part of my work route to see what its going to take me roughly to ride my bike to work. I work in Erwin did I mention that? 24 miles looks like and then 24 home. I'm going to do my part to stick it to the GAS MAN. I think I burn around 2.4 gallons of gas a day commuting to work round trip. I wish I lived closer so I could do it alot more. Tomorrow looks as if its going to be the best day for weather. The rest of the week is calling for percentages of rain through friday. So I will get her ready so all have to do is get up throw on my kit and go. Its going to be funny to walk in wearing a cycling kit in front of a bunch of truck drivers. I already have all my clothes in my locker at work so thats taken care of. Change and go a truckin'. More on how this went later.........

Later G ....................................