Getting Vertical

Mt Crumpet

The Crappy Cyclist is not a hill climber.
 Surprised? Of course your not.

Here's a screen shot of my ride this past Saturday. There's nothing compelling about this ride except maybe that it's massively hilly. I don't like hills therefore I do them and often. I fantasize my friends are too afraid to ride with me for fear I leave them in a catatonic state from burying them on our hilly venture. Or even better, for my birthday I'm given one of those fun polka dot jerseys  as a gift 'cause I'm so damn good at climbing. I stand there opening the gift in front of my non goat like friends and say, " ah geeze, you shouldn't have!" while secretly planning our next hilly adventure to painfully reinforce to everyone who is *Queen Of The Hills*  A girl can dream,  can't she?

Back to reality....

 At the end of this ride shown above, ( I ) never want to look at the average speed because it's usually horrible. Ok.. always horrible.  It's not even a long ride by most standards, (barely 60 miles) but it can and usually(for me)feel like a 90 + mile effort.  I know this route well and have done it  far too many times to count.  I just point my wheel out the drive way, utter "head for the hills" and my bike seamlessly knows where to go. If there's one thing that's a constant whether feeling fit or substantially under trained,  this ride NEVER   feels easy. Maybe if I had a pie plate as a cassette and a triple chain ring up front.....

Last weekend I spent 6.5 hours with my cyclocross bike finding my way through the trails and roads of greater Boston. It was tough to say the least. 60% trails 40 of road. I was wrecked for 3 days.  Surely that would make this 60 miler feel leisurely, no?   No.

Well one thing stands true besides me being non-goat like:  What goes up (no matter how slow)

gets to come back down and THAT makes me smile.

Thanks for stopping by!

b2b x 7

It's official. I'm in for the 2012 Boston to Windsor VT Harpoon 148 b2b ride. Let the journey begin. Here's the wavier i had to sign in blood. ( I made a few corrections based on my own needs)

I do solemnly swear, to: play by the rules be physically and mentally capable of completing the entire 148 mile ride in my designated mph category not expect others to help me complete the ride have enough left over to enjoy myself, some great beer, and the company of fellow riders review all the ride information on http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/b2b ride safely with proper cycling etiquette while looking fashionable yet with functionality. respect volunteers, other riders, motorists, and the rules of the road

I'm slowly plugging away at un-doing * The Crappy Cyclist* stigma I've so graciously attached to my backside and I've got some nice trix up my sleeve to prove  I'm not bluffing. It's only April and I've  already gotten some  semi decent time logged on the saddle.

This coming weekend I get to dye eggs and consume enough chocolate to equal my body weight , but by the next weekend, I'm putting on my frilly big girl panties and joining the fun for the annual Ronde ride. What's this you ask?   I don't really know exactly and that's probably a good thing.  I do know I'll be pedaling a cyclocross bike through roads and trails on the outskirts of Boston with a team of 3-5 other women (TBA).  The rules say we must stick together  and find our way around the 70+ loop course using whatever means we have to navigate; sundial, weather stick, fancy Garmin with GPS.  I know  just what your all thinking, "70 miles?  Pfffffff..That's no big deal" Well.. on a cyclocross bike with 4-5  town forests/parks/conservation land to contend with combined with not really knowing where the heck we are going, my gut is telling me this won't be cake walk.

2012 Ronde Ride Route

I'm just glad boys aren't on our team because we all know how they/you  are with directions and asking for help.  Secretly I'm hoping the teams in front of us will drop M&M's, Sour Patch and the likes so we just have to follow along and stop occasionally to pick up a few  for fueling purposes, right?
In any case, it should be fun and more importantly we get to drink beer,  pound burgers void of pink slime, AND get a chance to win some really gnarly raffles (yay!) post adventure all to raise money for Bikes Not Bombs. I suck at picking the winning team for the office March Madness
pool but I'm the queen of raffle winning. Just ask Mo.
Bring it.