Hills, Mark III

Mom and Dad are building a new house. The road the house is being built on is part of a loop, so I decided after work today to go see the new construction, and ride the loop. It isn't long, but has some hills that would challenge me (and did).

I've avoided the Chattanooga Bike Club, mostly because a club is a commitment, and I'm all about avoiding commitment. But apparently this particular loop is one the club rides fairly frequently. Confirming the fact I am fairly contrary, it appears I went around the loop in the opposite direction as they do. I met about five others going the other way, and was overtaken by two who turned the opposite way at the next intersection. I think one was one of the guys at Owen, who I'd seen on the Ft. O. ride, but I wouldn't swear to it. From speaking to family (more on this later) it seems that they ride this route quite a bit.

Anyway, I started at my aunt's house, next door to where my parents are building their new house. This is on Levi Rd. near the Levi cemetery, where my grandparents are buried (along with several other relatives). It seemed a good place to start, as in this loop, it is in the middle of the hills, so I would start with hills, and end with hills, but have lots of flat in the middle. I went towards Browntown Rd. (opposite of the other cyclists I saw) because the worst of the hills were in that direction, and being basically lazy, I wanted to hit those fresh. So from Levi to Browntown, I went on to Old Dayton Pike, and followed that until it came back to Hwy 27, then went along it for a short while to Robert's Mill Rd. That leads back to Levi, and from there I went to just past where Pitt's Rd. intersects, where my uncle lives. I visited him for a few minutes, then went past my cousin's house (where my grandparents used to live before they passed on) and back into the hilly section and back to my aunt's house. The whole loop was only about 6.75 miles, but I still think it was a good ride. It certainly hurt enough.

I'm wondering though, if perhaps I cheated. There were three hills that were, to me, rather steep. I stood up for those, which I haven't been doing so far with hills. The thing is, I'm still better for a short burst of power and then rest on the downside than I am with slowing down and taking longer to climb. But I get frustrated coming to an almost stop, and today decided to say to hell with it, I'm climbing this hill and being done with it. Maybe a road bike wouldn't need that, but I'm not on a road bike. Or maybe I'm being a puss and should suck it up and go slow. I don't really know. At the very least, if I ride with someone else and a hill comes up, I don't plan on making them wait too long. That is demoralizing, to me. My pride is a weak thing.

If I feel froggy, I'll extend that loop a bit, and follow Hwy 27 a bit longer (perhaps a mile, maybe two) even though it's a fairly heavily trafficked road, and go on to Jackson Rd., where I used to live (and another cousin lives now) or the next road up, Johnson Rd. (such original names in Falling Water, aren't they?). Both of these roads are hilly as well, and they both come to Robert's Mill Rd., on either side of Falling Water Elementary, which puts me back on this loop.

I gather the bike club starts way back off of Dayton Pike at the Bi-Lo and travel up Browntown Rd. for quite a ways. That road is probably more hilly than I can take just yet, and somewhat curvy and narrow and with moderate traffic, which would worry me. Browntown also intersects with Mountain Creek Rd., which past Morrison Springs Rd. isn't so heavily traveled, but has it's own share of hills. I think a good ride would be from Red Bank High down Morrison Springs to Mountain Creek, on to Browntown, then to Levi and then to Pitts, to Old Dayton Pike, back to Browntown and back along Mountain Creek to Morrison Springs. I'd guess this to be about 18 miles round trip, although it could be more or it could be less. If I keep going, I hope to be able to try this by October. What I still need to do is combine distance with hills. I've avoided the levee because it is flat and quite frankly boring now (and imagine, not more than a dozen posts back I avoided it for completely different reasons), but I think the 20 miles I've done on that route I could top easily. But on hilly rides, I haven't done much more than 10 miles, and usually less. So the next milestone is to try to combine the two, and do hills and distance. For this, I may need a partner, as I am not sure I can motivate myself to do both on my own. So far, I've only ridden with others twice (thanks, Cat and Rich!) and one of those was very short, but it did motivate me (read, shame) to do better. I don't yet have the confidence that I can finish what I started yet, though, and I have avoided discouragement so far. I'm the tortoise, not the hare. So I'll work up to it somehow, some way. Just writing this should help a bit.