Flutterby™! : Uphill 2006-07-10 12:14:14.862423+00

Uphill

2006-07-10 12:14:14.862423+00 by meuon 1 comments

Sunday morning I rode my bike down the driveway and road in front of the house, and took a right UP Signal Mtn Road. While I had to stop and walk some to get the cramps out and the heart rate down, I rode along the brow, well past the W road and then back over to the highway. It was only 10 miles, mostly uphill, my average speed 5-7mph. Then I started back home on 127, rolling hills downhill, and hit a peak of 47mph (GPS and Odometer matched). I could probably go faster, but taking those corners kept me on the brakes. - When I was a kid, I was always building soap-box-derby style carts, and finding what hills I could (in Kansas, and Tacoma Washingon.. Ha!), guess it was a good thing I did not live in really hilly places, something in me just loves gravity powered downhills. Even when I was skateboarding, I did downhills, slaloms.. and more downhills. Some things never change, the toys just get more expensive and you get more attached to them.

I loved that drop back down 127. There's a turn high up where you get this grand panoramic view of the river and the gorge, then you tuck down in among the trees and draft off the cars, and then there's another turn down low (either near the road to your house, or the one below the flying saucer) where all of a sudden the view opens up again and the river feels like it's right in your face.

No matter how many times I rode that descent, that moment was always stunning in its sense of having moved a lot and yet seeing the same scenery from a different perspective for me.