I can't wait to say it - today was a blast! We noticed on the atlas that the ancient Bristlecone forest wasn't too very far. And we noticed that it appeared that the road there looked like a good road riding opportunity. So we figured - let's make it an adventure and go!
An adventure it was! We drove south through Bishop to Big Pine, CA. The temperature there was 97 degrees - a bit hot to road ride up the mountain (unless one is looking for brain damage). We drove up 168 looking to find the temps below 80 degrees. We got this at the junction of 168 and the Ancient Bristlecone Highway.
The ride up 168 looks awesome! We'll have to do it when the temps are more friendly. We prepped and headed out. Turns out the ride was to be about ten miles only. But what a ten miles it was.
This was the hardest ten miles without a break I've ever ridden. The grade was steep and never backed off. Doing the math, this works out to a 6% grade on average. But this does not do the ride justice. Yeah, maybe a bit of the early section was 4%, but much of it - and certainly it got tougher as the ride went on - was a far higher grade. Many sections we estimated to be 12% grade. Many long sections! You can see the section of graph showing elevation gain in feet for the ten miles up and ten miles down). The ride was brutal and fun, or is it 'short but savage'? I admit, for the first time ever, I had to get off my bike mid-ride to catch my breath. Looking back at the steepness, I can't even be upset with myself for it either!Edit: I figured the grade by taking the two miles that are not uphill out of the calculation. This works out to a 14% grade. That is what it *felt* like! I'll stop obsessing over it now. Really. I hope.
We learned afterward that this section of road is a part of several of the burliest bike ride races: The Everest Challenge, The White Mountain Double Century, the California Triple Crown, etc. There are some friggin' hard core folks out there riding this stuff.
The ride was extra fun because at the visitor's center for the forest, it was 'free day' and the rangers were giving out free lemonade and cookies. I found Dave at the cookie table when I arrived. What an excellent treat. Though far shorter than the 70 mile Tioga pass day we did days before, this ten mile ride was more difficult in my opinion. I'm psyched!
Afterward, we headed down. The terrain was so steep (and accidents meant certain death), we had to go slowly - like 20 mph. We could smell the odor of burning brakes on virtually every car that passed. Once we got back to the truck, we changed and headed back to the forest.
While here, we walked around a short nature hike loop so Dave could take some nice photos with the fading light. I on the other hand used the point-and-shoot to get a few photos. Some are even in focus. :)
The forest was actually more beautiful than we expected. And it was loaded with birds (it killed me not to have my binoculars!). 
1 comment:
97 degrees too hot? Sounds pretty comfy to me. 105 yesterday on the ride home from work. It was soooo fun stopping to fix that flat. 97... ahhhhhh....
Looks like you're having fun!
Post a Comment