Today we tried to conquer the dreaded hill. It’s a road named Overlook. At the top is a cell tower. It’s obvious why the cell phone “powers that be” decided to put a tower at this spot. We rode about 3 miles and then started the climb up Overlook. While the climb is about 2 miles, there are three sections that are over 20 degrees. The rest of the climb is at or about double digits. The first steep climb went well. On the other two my heart rate went to 170 and I stopped to get it down before proceeding. On a road bicycle a climb of 6 to 8 degrees can be done for hours by a rider that is reasonably in shape. When you get into double digits (10+ degrees) it becomes very challenging. When you exceed 20 degrees it is about being able to maintain your pace on the bike for only hundreds of yards.
The rest of the story:
When we attempted to start the ride a localized storm brought rain. We waited until it stopped and then took off while the pavement was still wet. we did the climb and then descended on wet pavement which is somewhat hazardous. However, the sky’s were clear and it looked like the weather was with us. The descent went well. Then we rode into Egremont, MA and started a climb back to the road that would take us home. Climb, descent, that’s biking. At the top of the next climb the sky’s started to darken. I took off my sunglasses to see the road better. As soon as the descent started the rain came. I’m going down with rain beating into my eyes, slick pavement, a severe switchback and a prayer to make it home safely, soaked. Well, I made it but as short as this ride was, about 14 miles, it was one of the toughest ones in recent memory. It had a bit of everything.