get yur hands offuh muh woman
Once I complete a variety of lab work tomorrow, I am getting on the racer and traveling north. North to the beginning of the serious Appalachian Mountains. North to where I will meet Anguish.
My goal is to climb both the front and back side of Mountain Lake. The satellite imagery makes it look like the lake is at the top of the mountain, but the mountain just overlooks the lake in that valley. If I continued to the lake, the road changes to a monstrous gravel and becomes insanely steep downward towards the water.
Thanks to a week off of courses - Way to go, Plymouth settlers! Maybe next time, Natives… - I am able to spend a lot of time doing rides I’ve had a nearly uncontrollable urge to complete. Plus, I’ve found a great plug-in for Google Maps to show elevation and grade. So, I’m able to say, “this is what I’m riding tomorrow”.
Of course, that’s just Mountain Lake and not the full ride. For some reason the elevation plug-in says it’s 5 miles up the back side and 6 miles on the front side. Since I’ve done the front side of Mountain Lake before, I know for certain that it is 7 miles on the front side - what both my chronometer and the sign at the bottom of Mountain Lake agreed upon. The extra mile up makes the grade significantly smoother. I’ve heard horror stories about the back side, though. The very last stretch of roughly 1.5 mles of 10% grade is where people pass out. I think, once before, I was able to spot some of the skeletons of abandoned riders.
For comparison, the famous Hautacam ascent that sometimes appears in the Tour de France, and will return in 2008, is 9 miles at 7.2% grade. The back side of Mountain Lake averages out to 5 miles at 7.8% grade. That’s some respectable altitude training, then.
I will need your good luck wishes and oxygen mask donations.