Saturday Ride 8/4: Peak Assault!

The good news?  Today's ride was only a 27 mile ride.  The bad news?  It is 13.5 mile ride straight up  Sandia Peak with almost 3800 feet of elevation gain.  Details are here.  I had always been scared of this ride - having ridden up to the ski area a few summers ago but starting up to the ski area at mile 35 of a long day of riding.  I was new to cycling and the ride kicked my butt.  But we needed some hill work, and what better way to get some hill miles in?

So the few, the proud, the crazy all met at the Triangle in the East Mountains for a relatively late 7:30 am start time.  There was 10 of us heading up this morning: Greg, Jeff, Calvin, Gregg, Tammy, Peggy, Gary, Matt,  David, and new rider Lisa.  We all started off in good spirits and almost immediately splitting into two groups - those fast, good hill climbers and the rest of us.

A long road up

The amount of exertion required to get up the hill did not easily lend itself to conversing with other riders, so it was a quiet meditative ride up.  A gorgeous morning though, with the cool crisp mountain air keeping you company.  After a quick rally at half way at the ski area, we plunged ahead to the top. One of our other riders, Danny,  riding separately from the main group did a great job of passing most of his team about a mile from the end of the ride.

A sense of accomplishment

We all met up at the very top of the crest at around 10:15, at a whopping 10640 feet above sea level.  Shortly after, Ali and Connor (the littlest Penultimate) met us at the top to share in the spectacular view before they headed off on a hike on the 10K trail.  

After some high fives, many fig newtons, and lots of water, it was time for the fun part - the long 13 mile down hill.  It was a fast one - the ski area is about half way down and offers a good chance to give your forearms a chance to rest from the braking!  I averaged about 30 mph on the way down, with a top speed of 42 mph.  We finished our morning ride with a great breakfast at the Lazy Lizard with some other riders, including fellow Penultimate Geoff, who had done some mountain biking instead.  Overall a great morning!