While my last ride was successful in terms of distance and pace, I actually felt I was in a little over my head. The semi-circle that had usurped the Hell Hill title from the newly dubbed Son of Hell Hill was a little more than I was ready to handle -- especially at the end of a ride -- on a consistent basis.
So on this night I decided to simplify things and just made my loop a little wider than before. I felt good about this new loop, as I was familiar with the route I had mapped out and knew I'd have the "doublewide" sidewalk with accompanying bike lane. With my newest friend, MapMyRide.com, I was able to do some recon and determined that this was a 5.5-mile route, which was perfect.
Knowing I would be avoiding Hell Hill on this ride, I lost the plot a little bit and started out with a little too much gusto. On my previous ride, my 3-mile time was 13:00 but tonight I hit the 3-mile mark at 11:52 -- more than 20 seconds per mile faster. Of course, I didn't know the actual time differential at that moment, but I had sensed I was pushing a little harder than usual.
This was made abundantly clear to me when I turned up a street called Copper Hill Drive, which will heretofore be referred to as "Holy Crap Hill Drive." This beast made Hell Hill look like a short ramp, and Son of Hell Hill? A driveway. So not only had I worn myself out by this point, I had worn myself out and felt like I was on a stationary bike -- all effort and no forward progress.
Determined, I forged ahead, mostly keeping my head down so I couldn't see how slowly I was creeping up the hill. After what felt like 20 minutes, I looked up and saw redemption: a traffic light. I had done it! I had faced the most challenging hill yet and scaled it in one continuous, furious, pedaling marathon!
But I hadn't. In fact, I wasn't even halfway up Holy Crap Hill. It was merely a trick of the brain, coupled with a cruel joke played on me by the civil engineers who had planted that light there to mess with my psyche. At this point, I felt utterly defeated. If you do the math on the map, you'll see I started my ride at 9:09 pm and finished at 9:42 pm, a total of 33 minutes. Upon closer inspection, you'll notice my total duration was 30:29, which means there were about 2.5 minutes that were unaccounted for.
I'll admit it: I stopped. I had to. My lungs were burning, my legs were jelly -- I was toast. I rested. I contemplated my next move, but I knew the only thing I could do was continue climbing, knowing I'd get to the top. Eventually.
It wasn't pretty, but I did crest that hill and started my descent on the backstretch of this loop. Of course, I still had to tangle with Son of Hell Hill, but I had some time to regroup and I was able to scale that sucker, too.
I was tired, but I knew the worst was behind me and I just wanted to get home, log my time and make a mental note to never forget Holy Crap Hill Drive. As I rolled up toward my house, I reached into my pocket to get my iPhone so I could stop that timer as soon as I crossed the threshold of my driveway, which was only about 15 more yards away. As I pulled the iPhone out, I thought I felt something fall out of my pocket, so I turned my head to look behind me....
Come back tomorrow for Part 2!
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