Stone Mountain Coker Adventure.
Well I went back to the base of Stone Mountain for a ride Sunday morning. Reidj and I planned on setting out for an eighteen mile ride at about 8:30-9:00am. Neither of us had sunscreen, so after a trip to Quick Trip, we were back on track. We actually got started about 9:20am.
THis ride has the hill that I had yet to conquer on at least 7 previous attempts. This time though, I came prepared with advice from Nathan, AspenMike, GizmoDuck, and Klaas Bil. So I new with a fair amount of certainty I was going to crush this mountain(hill).
On this first hill, one that I usually make, but just barely. I normally get to the top of the first hill spent physically, and struggling to catch my breath. Armed with the advice of those mentioned, I conquered the hill with ease. Rather than having to stomp my way up the hill, I focused on pedaling, balance w/o putting pressure on the rear pedal and controlled breathing. After taking that hill with ease, I knew if it was going to happen, today was the day. I was going to conquer the mountain that kept beating me.
To add insult to injury, this particular hill also happens to have the greatest concentration of walkers, bikers, joggers, roller bladers, scooters and cars. So it is really tough on the ego to push your Coker up this hill.:o There happens to be a telephone poll about 3/4 of he way up this hill that marks a decrease in the grade. I have always felt that if I could just make it to that telephone poll, it would be a done deal. Also keep in mind, that Reidj is riding with me on a 24". He always makes the hill and passes me as I am walking up. So needless to say I have plenty of motivation to make it to the top. Today was the day. When I hit the top I felt like Lance Armstrong crossing the finish at Alpe d’Huez. It was a great feeling.
The best(from a prepared standpoint) part was I hadn’t ridden at all last week, it was warmer and more humid than any day we had ridden in the last 3 weekends. I still made it to the top two out of three times around. The third time I was pretty spent, and pretty much bonked. I had it in my mind to get out of the saddle for about 1 mile previously to let the blood flow. I should have listened to my crotch, I may have made it. Instead I kept pushing, and ended up leaning to far forward and my legs couldn’t keep up. I am confident that next week will be a different story. I had two UPD’s in approximately 18 miles of riding. One was Jennifer Annistons fault, the other I just bonked.
So Thank You to Nathan, Mike, Ken and Klaas Bil. I don’t think that success would have occurred as quickly without your help.