Day 9 - 30 Days of Biking

Made it to the Top!

After visiting the Trek Store on Day 9 of 30 Days of Biking, I was amped to get out and go for a ride, but somewhere that I hadn’t before.  For a while now, I’ve wanted to tackle a road near my place that features several long climbs and has a great looking wide shoulder – a roadie’s dream.  I left my place and pedaled a few miles to the road and when I turned onto it a huge headwind was right there to greet me.  Gritting my teeth, I dug into my pedals as the hill seemed to never end.  Once I was able to reach to crest, I looked ahead to see yet another long climb to scale.  A grabbed a quick drink and readied myself for more crank crunching into the wind.  This climb didn’t seem quite as difficult as the first, but still a challenge.  I made it to the top and felt pretty good about the rhythm I was able to stay in during the climb.  Of to my left a huge concrete sign stood, spelling the word “hilltop.”  “Well, that’s about right,” I thought to myself, and immediately rode over to it for a picture. 



My bike with "Hilltop" sign



I got my a picture with the "sign of obviousness," and hopped back on the bike to continued on the road a little ways more before turning around.  Once heading in the opposite direction with the wind at my back, I FLEW!  With effortless motion I was able to climb to two hills with such ease that I almost turned around to do it again!  I turned onto another road that also had a nice shoulder and very little traffic.  There was no rhyme or reason to why I rode the way I did and I had no planned route in my mind.  I was just riding to ride, and enjoy the road.

When I got back home I was very pleased with my ride.  It wasn’t super long by any means – just shy of 20 miles – but it was a lot of fun, and that’s why I ride.  I was loving the new roads and Loving the Bike.