Saturday, May 26, 2007

"I want to ride hills today"



...were the words that flew out of my mouth before i remembered where i was in the universe. Naturally, Ronny called me on it by responding, "There are no hills in Belgium." What i meant to say was that I was keen on avoiding a pannekoek ride. At a piano pace, pancake flat rides are not terribly satisfying. At least if i go a little vertical, i'll feel like i've accomplished something from the outing.

Ronny did not disappoint. During the ride, he showed me two small hills that are perfect for hill intervals. They are only 3-4 minutes in length but are steep enough to get a good workout when done multiple times. AND they are right by my home!

We also passed some other small hills that were familiar to me. One was named Pottery Hill. It got its name from the building made completely out of pottery pieces that's located half way up the hill. We ended our ride on Strawberry Hill which I am proud to announce was MY name for it. THe first time i rode up it with Ronny, I told him it was just like a hill located in the Strawberry area of Mill Valley, California. Funny enough, the name stuck; now all the locals refer to it as Strawberry Hill!

Today is was 21 degrees C (about 70 degrees F?). At least that's what the digital sign in front of the bank read. I doubt it though. It felt more like 17 C (60ish F) BUT no rain. It just started an hour ago - at around 9pm. I hear that North Bay (SF, California area) is getting some viscous winds the past few days. I wonder how many cyclist have been blown off the cliffs on Highway 1 or Shoreline Highway...maybe it is best not to know.

6 comments:

Big Bad Wolf said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I wonder if your Belgian training pals would guess that the ‘original’ Strawberry Hill, for all that its name connotes some pastoral reverie in which rainbows arc above the staves of wizened shepherds, is in fact a congested glass-litter-and-gravel-strewn four-lane expressway that lurches in one painful 12% straight shot toward an even more congested freeway interchange. Also, I like "viscous winds," these being more soul-battering, presumably, than even the usual vicious ones! May, it turns out, is the cruelest month.
-- E.C. Chamberlain

Big Bad Wolf said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Wow I wonder what the deleted comments were! We had the honor of Kathryn Curri in our tuesday night world championship ride this week! She still holds some of our club TT female records! She said she was in her 4th hour of training and I replied that I was in my 50th year of life! I want to go ride hills too after seeing the boys ride up the zoncolon in the Giro this morning using 34-29s for gearing, supposedly! Ouch! So are you back in the groove? Philip

PEANUT said...

Thanks for the kathryn curri update! I am not back in the groove yet - still recovering. thanks for asking.

Big Bad Wolf said...

The deleted comments were about people not wearing a helmet on a ride.