HILLS AND I MEAN STEEP HILLS

Tony's View

 We were at the hotel at breakfast and I showed Joan the picture to the right on my computer. I said we have a big hill to go up, then flat, then one big hill to go down. I didn't realize that it would be that steep. The picture below shows the name of the road we were going on. Upon seeing it,  I thought," oh crap." We better get a picture of this. They were even nice enough to have an arrow on the sign post saying it was up hill. I guess when they do that it means it's very steep, you crazy cyclist. We even saw buzzards circling. They must have made a meal of other cyclists trying this hill, I guess.

We started heading up and the air got really thin. I was struggling to breath and I looked at my watch and my heart rate was 165. For this old man that is in the anaerobic zone, meaning my body said this isn't going to go on long. I said, "The next shade tree we are stopping. "Joan completely agreed because she was realizing the air was thin, too. Wade and I used to say when we were tired, we should stop and get a picture. So we took a picture, see below. We were about 1/3 of the way up. The hill was about a 1000 feet of climb with a lot of it at a grade of 12.8% according to our Garmin. It took us 2 breaks on the hill and one on the top. We were a little over 6 miles in and I was exhausted. 😭😭 We climbed more feet in that hill than almost the entire 50 miles the last day we rode. To justify the breaks, we also FaceTimed Luke and Cara, since Mondays are Joan's day with Luke. The next break we FaceTimed Marla to get an extended break. We decided not to FaceTime Wade because he would make fun of us and call us old. Truth hurts. 

At the end, we got to go down the hill which was exhilarating. We went up to 42mph with the brakes on the whole way. Your definitely gain more ground at 42 mph than 3.5mph on the way up. Enough about the hills because I LOVE HILLS. Seriously, they get me in shape. I just love them more on my single bike without the heavy tandem and 85 additional pounds of luggage.

I just want to say that Joan was a real trooper on the HILL and hills aren't her thing. Her effort was awesome.

 We stopped at a roadside cheese shop and bought some locally made cheese. Joan found a dog who wanted to play fetch with with a small piece of wood. I think the dog liked her. She would get ready to throw and the dog would be highly concentrating, and then off he would go. We had to leave when Joan started hitting the building with her throws. Good thing we left though because we had about 5 miles to go and when we got on the bike, the skies were extremely dark. We hustled the last 5 miles to avoid the eventual downpour. We made it to the Cook Mansion Bed and Breakfast before the skies let loose. Actually I am writing this blog form the porch during the rain, and how peaceful it is. Joan is taking a well deserved nap. 💤

I did get a response from some smart guy, or who thinks he is smart. He said "Hmmm...a bridge to carry water over water. Sounds like an aqueduct." Tough crowd of followers.😊😀



Joan's Extra

 I am so thankful that Tony only planned a 25 mile day today! That was some hill!
 I learned something while eating dinner tonight that Tony isn't really interested in riding through the Alps just around the Alps. Look for that on a future addition to the blog. 🚵
The picture to the right is wall at Maur Bellas, where we ate dinner. The wall is a natural waterfall that the building is built around.




The picture at the left is the Shequaga Falls that is in our backyard of our bed and breakfast. We can see it from our room's window, and the rain downpour right after we arrived has made the falls stronger and fuller!

Finally, it's Monday and the day that I usually get to spend with Luke. Cara sent me a few pictures of Luke "helping" so I thought I would share his cuteness to brighten any reader's day.