After running to tennis and back on Friday, I got to try something new with my brother. On Saturday, we did a bike ride into the city and back. It was about 45 miles for me. I did a little bit of a new route to find the bike path that takes us into the city so I could connect with my brother. We met up, rode together for a while, then split off again so I could head back to my apartment.
During that ride, I told him that on Sunday (today) I wanted to do some hills. I got a text message last night that said exactly this...
"I found a monster hill today. It's on the way to the other cat 5. I literally laughed out loud when I thought about putting you through hell tomorrow."
Shit.
We planned on doing a 35 mile route so he could get his weekend century (100 miles). Seemed reasonable. I don't mind climbing as much as I used to, I just don't like getting dropped... which I knew would happen.
When we left we were on some of my favorite roads... really small rolling hills, overall descending, and fast. Beautiful. We got close to the first climb and my brother says to me, "this is it. Just make a left at this street and meet me at the top." That's fine. I know I'm gonna get dropped at some point on this climb. Fortunately, it didn't start very steep. Now that I've finished that climb. It didn't seem so bad at all. I'm realizing that category 5 climbs aren't as difficult as I had once thought. A bit of a breakthrough for me.
Then I hit the next one.
I suffered up this hill the entire way. I was taking in more oxygen than I was rightfully due. Certainly breathing for two people at this point. I could hardly stand to climb and my gears weren't set up for this. I thought at least 3 times that I wasn't going to make it and that this hill, quite possibly would never end. The first time I started to doubt myself, it was when I spent the better part of a minute trying to fight a fallen leaf that had gotten itself stuck in my front break.
Looking back at this climb, I realize that it wasn't so bad. It hurt like hell, but I was able to cope with it and by the time I got to the top, I felt ok. I told my brother that this second hill sucked much worse than the first. I even said after the first, "That was it?" I learned that I shouldn't taunt the hills.
Here's why the second hill felt so horrible...
The second climb was an extra half a mile, twice as steep, and went up 265 more feet! Not to mention it was a category 4 climb. Categorically, the hardest climb I've ever completed. How's that for something new!?!?
A side note for my brother. You're a dick.
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