As I approach 70 (10/15) I am no longer looking for mountains to climb, neither in life nor on the bike. But once a year, I pull myself together, square off with a brute and conquer it.
So yesterday, I did my now annual (two years in a row) ride up to Smugglers Notch. I took the Rambouillet but wasn’t sure it’s low double gearing (30/28) would be enough, but it was. When I got the Ram, (Sept of 2004 or 5) my first ride was an 80 mile trip to the top of the Appalachian Gap, a beast of a climb with a fair stretch of 22% grade at the top. I wanted to celebrate this year with the Ram, again. This climb goes up about 1700 feet in about 4 miles. The first mile climbs 400 feet, then there's a couple of miles of 1-2% grade before the last three miles, which gain about 1100 feet. I always stop at the entrance to Smugglers Notch Ski resort, which is just before the last three mile push, for a brief rest & water and then I stop again about 1 1/2 mile later where it briefly flattens out. Take on air and water. But this time I had to stop about a half mile or so before the top to catch my breath, lower my heart rate, and rest my legs. I wondered if a 24/27 wouldn't have required that stop. That’s just before the final 12% up to the top. About this time I forgot two very important things. Why the hell I was doing this and which of the dam turns was the last one before the top. But I made it. Shouldn't have done this on a Sunday, too much traffic, but life has been very busy. Took it easy on the way down, just sat up and coasted at 40 or so. I feel pretty good now on Monday morning. Michael -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
