It was with huge relief to have day 2 and Mt. Washington in
my rearview mirror. Whiteface Mountain is # 26 on the list and covers 3,566 ft.
over 7.9 mi with an average grade of 8.6% and a max of 12%. As I drove into town, huge signs were in place
advertising a bike race on Saturday. I wish I could have stayed and watched or
participated; but I have a race in Toronto on Sunday and can’t stay around.
Wilmington NY is in northern NY and is about 20 miles from Lake Placid the site
of two Winter Olympics.
Wanting to get to Toronto ASAP, I was up at 4:15 and on the
bike at the first sight of light (4:45). I also wanted to get the ride going
because they were repaving part of the road, and I didn’t want to get stopped
from climbing. This climb is more similar
to climbs in Washington State (i.e.longer and more gradual gradient). In
addition to the aching of my muscles from the two previous days, I noticed that
my HR was about 10 beats lower than it normally would be with this kind of
effort. The road surface was smooth and consistent. Except for a fairly strong head wind, the
climb went fairly well. They have a cool castle at the top of the climb. I wish
it had been open so I could explore! The
descent was pretty thrilling. Summerson
says that it is one of the fastest descents in the US (45mph in several
sections) .
At the bottom, I asked a construction worker to take a
picture of me and he graciously helped me out.
I HAD FINALLY COMPLETED SUMMERSON’S “100 TOUGHEST CLIMBS” – 6 YEARS OF
WORK!! I plan to total up the miles and
the climbing feet for these 100 climbs when I get back. It is with jubilation that I have completed
this goal.
 |
| Leon after climbing Whiteface Mountain - the last climb in his quest to do the "100 Toughest Cycling Climbs in the USA"... |
After a change and a quick breakfast, I headed out on my 7 ½
our drive to Toronto. Collingwood, a
city 1:30 from Toronto in the Blue Mountains, was the site of this year’s UCI
qualifier for Amateur Worlds which will be held in Denmark. My drive was long and tiring. I relied on my i-phone GPS to guide me. So many turns it was incredible. I could never had made it with just Mapquest
directions and a map (although, at one point, the GPS directions took me on
dirt roads for 20 some miles). I kept
thinking it had me lost and that I would run into a dead end soon. Eventually, it took me back on major roads;
but I was real concerned. The highlight
of the drive was seeing some Amish horse and buggy carts crossing the
road. I then found and Amish man selling
baskets at the side of the road. Joshua was a very nice guy, and he was happy
to pose at the side of my car.
 |
| Leon's new friend, Joshua... |
Day 4 post (racing in Toronto) still to come...
No comments:
Post a Comment