Saturday, August 7, 2010

Highwood revisited, from the north side

Katie and drove out to Barrier Lake to ride Highwood. My plan was 6 hrs max, then a 30 minute run. From Barrier it's about 62 K to the top. We had a great day, though it was a bit windy at times. Of course, she can ride way faster than me, but she doubled back a couple times to make sure I hadn't been eaten by a grizzly or something.

There is a lot of up involved in this ride. Plus a bit of down. Plus a lot of false flat. I never figured it out. I'd be riding along, equally astonished at doing 14 or 24 kph. I didn't see any other riders till I was near the top. The last bit is tough sledding. I was down to about 7 Kph in the granniest gear, weaving all over the shoulder trying to avoid the bugs. Once at the top I rode a bit further to where I turned around last time, and looked for Katie, but she was much further down.

It was just under 3.5 hrs to the top, counting a detour back to the car right at the beginning for something I forgot. It was 2 hrs back down again, and I was choked at the wind at the top. Going down the steepest part of the grade and I couldn't even get over 60 Kph. Did way better than that further down on flatter slopes but less wind.

In some ways the ride down was tougher for me. I was getting a bit creaky, a bit tired of being on the bike, a lot tired of the motorcycles. I was ready for a run about an hour before the ride ended. There's one last hill up and that really took it out of me. What with a bit of riding back and forth near where we parked, it turned into 130 K ride, and 5:45 time.

Lets see, 3 Clifs bars, 2 bananas, 2.5 bottles of energy drink.

The run was good! Started off with a good stride, I think mainly because I was so happy to be off the bike. Ran 30 minutes, and only slowed down a bit at the end. My left knee was getting a bit cranky.

Drove home to find Linda had a lamb roast ready to eat. Yum!

5 comments:

  1. Mmmmmm ... baby sheeeeep ...

    I was here earlier - like, 8 hours ago - to comment and I got distracted and now I'm back and can't remember what I was gonna say.

    Except this: My comment is longer, thicker and stiffer than anyone else's SO FAR.

    Also? It's uncircumcised.

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  2. For those readers wondering what the heck is going on, you need to go to Glaven's blog, read the comments, and all will be revealed. And no, we're not talking about what you (perverts all) think we're talking about.

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  3. I had lamb for my b-day dinner and thought of you. It was the first time I've had it, I remember you bragging about it in your blog.
    Nice ride too! Are you speaking of Katie F? If so, lucky you!

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  4. Nice workout. I don't bother explaining Heisneberg anymore... if people are interested, they'll click... hehe.

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  5. Don't like lamb but if I did I'd be excited that it was ready for my after such a long weekend. Linda's great. :) Great job w/ the ride. Love cliff bars - so no fig newmans? I won't take it personally......

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Looking forward to reading your comment!