A Real Butt-Kicker! ~48 miles ~8k vertical gain. Ouch!
Iowa Hill is one of those climbs that is a challenge for anyone. You climb nearly 2,000 feet in 5 miles, but the first 1,200 feet come in the first 1.7 miles. Big time switchbacks with 20% bumps. I had only attempted it once, during the Auburn Century back in 2004ish. I walked most of it. Today I attacked it. I wanted to make that hill my B!%@#. I sat when I could, stood when I had to (which was a lot) and ultimately failed. I had to hop off the bike and start pushing...and along comes Gina, one of two others on the ride (Kane being the third). She passes me and around a turn she slowly climbs up and stops. The top was right there. Had I known, maybe I could have dug down for something extra, but being that we still had 40+ miles and 6000+', maybe it was for the best. The rest of the ride went kinda the same. I would attack hills and eventually Gina would pass me (on her cute, light road bike), while Kane plugged along on his nearly 30lb touring bike. Eventually, after the last climb, those two left me and I struggled to keep Kane in my sights. when I did, I saw that Gina had left him. So here is this gal, new to the area (moved from Alaska of all places), who just rode 100 miles the day before; she shows up on this monster climbing ride and crushes it! Pretty impressive.
Guess I won't be riding with her much any more...unless maybe she rides 150 the day before and is in super slow recovery pace...or on a mtb. Yeah, that sounds better. ;)
Thanks for setting up and leading the ride Kane.
Good people, good ride, good times.
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| One big climb down, two to go, so still feeling frisky. |
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| Asking myself why I bought the 21lb bike and not the 17lb bike. |
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| Kane taking in the canyon view. |
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| Gina did not read the CCX memo, so she is glad to be off her seat during this final decent. |
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| With one climb to go, Gina thinks of violating the one written rule. |
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