Rain City Story

The Fastest Ride Of My Life

Actually, it was probably the slowest.  See that picture over there?  That was my bike computer that recorded my maximum speed.  66 miles per hour.  4.5 mph faster than I've ever (known to have) ridden before.  Impressive huh?  Well, not really.  I was down a very scary mountain that also gave me a decent tailwind.  By far, the scariest six minutes on my bike, ever.

What's more impressive is that I actually managed to climb this hill, ok mountain without stopping to get off.  The hill is about 3.15 miles long with an average gradient (estimated using USGS info) of 7% with a max of 22% (known for sure).  Despite that awesome maximum speed, my average for the 18.2 mile ride was only 14.1 miles per hour.  LOL! 

It's damn near impossible to ride out here.  Not only are most of my rides above 6,800 feet in elevation but it's always windy and I have super heavy but damn sexy Hed3 wheels that cost more than my car that I just traded in.   I hate having to ride with such wheels (other riders expect a lot more of you) but they are phenomenally durable (I've ridden with them since 2002) and support my weight well.  Speaking of weight, it certainly doesn't help that I'm the heaviest I've ever been by almost 14 pounds.  But I didn't exercise at all for almost 5 months so I know things will get better soon.  It's hard to think that though when you're literally going 3.9 miles per hour and have over 1,000 vertial feet to climb.