February 2, 2006
I Like Climbing
Actually, this isn't true. I really don't like climbing. However, I like descending. I mean I like descending. Descents are like an addictive drug. There are few things I can think of that are more wonderful than a nice long descent on a ribbon of well banked smooth pavement. With the world spread out beneath me like the view from an airplane I want them to go on and on forever and ever but I don't want to go slow enough to make them last because the whole point of having made it up that high is to whooooooosh back down again.
There were a lot of climbs. But it was okay because there were also a lot of descents.
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No matter how much I hated those climbs for the way my thighs ached it was alright when the descent came. I remember cresting one hill somewhere where the trees weren't green and feeling my face break out into a grin when I realized it was nothing but descent from here to the bottom of that river valley and those coconut palms.
Unfortunately, this then necessitated climbing back out of the river valley and back into the elevations where the trees didn't know they were supposed to be tropical. I almost had my first clipless accident on that climb. I don't remember specifically why I'd stopped the bike and taken my feet off the pedals just that I had and that I was having problems getting the cleat to re-engage. I'd just felt and heard that satisfying click when the road suddenly went vertical and my bike stopped.
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There was no question of pedalling up that mountain. It was a walking mountain. And although my odometer still counted time and distance I wasn't going fast enough to register any speed at all.
Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 390 km (242 miles)
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