Conquering Mountains

So a lot has happened in life recently, particularly in the cycling department. At the moment, I'm fresh from a fifty-plus mile ride from one bike shop to another. It was fun, but that's not really what this post is about. Mostly this post is about how I biked up a mountain. We're talking eight miles of uphill. This time I won't leave it up to your imagination, because I took pictures! Well, three of them. I'll get to them after a little narrative. Well, except for the obligatory bike and build shot to the left there.

My roommate Chris and I wanted to say goodbye to Harrisonburg properly. Chris decided that I was ready to tackle Reddish Knob, the highest point in Northern Virginia, apparantly. I've been up Reddish before; it's paved, so you can drive up all the way to the top. Or bike up it. And well, it's pretty high, and steep, and sometimes cars have trouble getting up it. Chris has this lovely habit of taking me on rides that are way out of my depth. But I felt up for the climb, so we loaded the bikes up on his car and drove to Dayton. Normally we'd bike there, but we were on a time crunch and neither of us felt ready for a fifty mile round trip, plus eight miles of straight uphill. It's a good thing, because Reddish Knob is a hard.

Not a whole lot of detail to give on the climb. It was hard, and for most of it I did not like it at all. I've met a lot of cyclists that love climbing. They say it's meditative and they're right, it is. But that meditation is punctuated by a great deal of pain and discomfort, and the demoralizing fact that you're essentially going walking speed. On the plus side, it was beautiful. The real low was reaching mile four, realizing we had another four miles to go, and feeling like there was nothing in the tank. But all the bad feelings were washed away the second I saw the summit, and realized that I had beaten the mountain. I screamed harder than I think I ever have when I reached the end, and probably thoroughly freaked out the group of guys in their pickup that beat me there.

The descent down made the grueling climb all worthwhile. We clocked speeds of fifty mph. I'll probably go faster, and I know that I'll climb and descend higher mountains this summer. But I got a taste of what beating a mountain pass feels like, and it was awesome. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. The strength you gain from doing something truly monumental is more than just physical. We should all of us experience it.

But musings aside, it's time for the photographs.

Here's a visual of Chris, for those of you who don't know him. Yeah, he kicked my keister up the mountain, and he did it in a double chainring.

There were a couple awesome overlooks on the way up. This one was truly epic, although the photograph doesn't do it justice at all.

This is another of the top. I wish my photography skills were greater, cause a panoramic from the summit would be truly epic. You can see the entire valley for miles and miles around, assuming there's not much haze.

Annnddd that's it. I've gotta say, the picture posting's a bit of a pain. I can't make it look pretty like everyone else. Ahh well, practice makes perfect.

Peace Out Hombres!