Climbing that big climb

WARNING! They don't let just anybody ride in this area.

Well, I have the 2nd round in the West Virginia road series coming up. Of course, there are some god-awful big climbs on it. The first is a 7 mile stepping climb and the race finishes on a 5 mile 'we did this because we like to see racers suffer' climb. It does finish near the windmills at the top of the ridge. I guess watching those come into view might help keep me from thinking about how much the climb hurts and how much I want to throw up. The climbs are not quite as high as the ones at the Mountain State Classic, but any climb over a mile for an old crit rider like myself is going to be tough. Last year, I cracked off most of the pack in the first major climb in the Mountain State til I followed a couple rapid accelerations near the top. I should've known to just keep myself steady since I'm not the light mountain goat I used to be. Nothing like trying to climb mountains when you are almost 20lbs over what you used to consider race weight. The next time you are snickering at some poor sap like myself, get a haversack and put 2 gallons of milk in it, then try climbing a hill. You'll see what sort of hell we have to go through. Anyhoo, enough whining and complaining about things I totally have control over. This past weekend, I finally got into the Laurel Highlands to do some training. These are the mountains that were used for Nationals the past couple years and further on up the ridges, the Tour de Toona. This is home turf for me. I do love coming up into those hills and have done rides where I've been over 4 and 5 major ridge crossings where the climbing is an average of 1200 ft per climb. It makes for a full day, especially when there are lots of little 2-400 ft pops between the climbs. The scenery on the tops is nice. Here's a few photos from Sunday's ride which took me over the ridges 3 times.

The first one was pretty tough at a 7.5% average grade. It wasn't too long, but I did have to work at it. The second one was about the same and the third while not as steep, was the hardest of all. It wasn't so much the climb was tough, but the only easy way out of the park was the way you came in. The road is broken and not taken care of and really beats the hell out of you if you're coming down the hill at over 25mph. I used to drop the cars at the top and they wouldn't see me til they were able to open it up at a couple miles to the bottom and could take it up over 50. Over the years, I'd had a few cars try to keep up with me and they'd almost wind up wrecking. It's tough to go fast on the descent now with all the potholes and bumps. If you weren't tired at the top, you certainly were at the bottom. It's almost as bad as some of the gnarly descents I've been on in a mountain bike race. There's also no catching any scenery on the way down either. Take your eyes off the road for one second and you are definitely smacking something that is going to make your day miserable. On the whole though, it was a great ride. I have to get a few more of these to get ready for the summer races. I really need about 3 weeks off from work. Any rich women out there want to take care of me so I can get some training in? I'm a pretty good cook and I can sing and dance too.

Some pics from the top above the Rolling Rock Farms (Favorite Haunt of the Mellons, Scaifes, etc. )