Bike Ride with Hill
Brittany and I met on Library Mall today to ride our bicycles and have some coffee. It was a nice way to start a morning, as without a social motivation and commitment, I likely would not have left the house at 8:30. The ride in was nice; I took the same route Lauren and I rode to campus a couple weeks ago. It took me just 30 minutes, offering a tempting alternative method of transportation. If it takes as long to bike as it does to take the bus, with the added bonus of exercise, then it seems like I ought to be doing that more often.
We rode around Lake Monona, around 14 miles or so. Pretty nice route, decently marked with “Bicycle Route” signs that make you turn at unexpected places and direct you to paths that come out in the middle of streets that you must cross. They don’t make it easy on us bicyclists. The ride back into Madison is the best part, as you get to see the beautiful city skyline (same thing you see exiting at John Nolan from the beltline).
After some coffee at Espresso Royale, I took off from home. I made it nearly all the way back with no issues, until I decided to take the hill on Old Sauk Road.
It’s long and it’s steep. And while I didn’t give up and walk my bike, like so many others I’ve seen, I was exhausted when I got to the top. My pedals slowed and my breath was ragged. I turned down Blue Ridge and slowly made my way the rest of the mile and a half. By the time I had parked my bike and gotten home, my thighs were burning. I’m mostly recovered now, but I think I will avoid that hill in the future. It turned a very pleasant bike ride into a nice trip with a terrible ending.
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June 14th, 2009 17:36
Yeah, I know the hill you’re talking about because it’s on a walking route I do a couple times a week. I occasionally see bikers struggling pitifully against it.