Queen of the Mountain

I started cycling last May for my triathlon training. Before that I can’t remember the last time I was on a bike and even when I was on a bike, it was a slow fun ride. After my two triathlons I stopped cycling immediately which was mid-August. I didn’t really pick it up again until March. Based on that, it should be pretty obvious that I’m a newbie when it comes to cycling.

The main place I ride I can start from my house and be on a road with bike lanes the majority of the time. When I first started I thought those “hills” were difficult. Those were the biggest I experienced last year. This year I expanded the route a bit further which included on hill which is about 0.3 miles at 5-6% grade. This was (and actually still can be) a difficult hill for me. I end up in the lowest gear and my heart rate goes super high. I’m weird about getting out of the saddle so I muscle through it in the saddle. Over time the hill got easier and I knew I needed to try some try climbing.

Enter Paris Mountain. I’d heard about the steep 2 mile climb and to be perfectly honest I was afraid to try it. It’s not like running, when you get tired you just stop and walk. I refuse to get off my bike to walk, that’s just too embarrassing and the idea of taking a break mid hill (or mountain) would be more painful than continuing to mash on.

I actually didn’t know exactly how to get to Paris Mountain so I told a coworker I wanted to try it. A group of us started at my house and off we went to downtown and then to the mountain. One of the riders threw her chain right before we started so we ended up a bit spaced out before starting but agreed to stop at the top. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I turned onto the road to head up the mountain. Right before starting I confirmed 2 miles (I needed to know when the pain would end) but was informed it was 2.2 miles. Damn. I began ahead of everyone by a bit and was convinced I would be passed very early on. To my surprise only one of the two guys passed me maybe half way up and he didn’t end up that far ahead of me. The gap actually grew between me and the two behind me. At the top they asked if that was my first time since everyone had done it before (the guys just the day before). They told me I did a very good job considering it was my first time so yay for that!

I’m not going to sit here and pretend it was fun. It was hard. And slow. My Garmin kept auto pausing because I was going so slow at times. I kept switching my watch between speed/mileage and heart rate. I couldn’t decide which was worse to look at. I knew counting down how much further was a bad idea which is why I tried to stay on heart rate but looking at that high number made me want to stop. But I made it to the top after an 800+ ft elevation gain. And you know what? I’m glad I did it! And I’m ready to do it again. They told me that if I could do that, I should have no problem with the other climbs in the area. Bring it on! The best part of doing the climb…. riding down the other side wheeeee! That mountain officially claims my slowest (3.2mph… don’t judge) and fastest (35.6mph) speeds on a bike. Honestly I could have gone a bit faster but I was afraid. Hopefully next attempt both numbers will be higher. We shall see.