2nd Training Session ... 1st Day of Hill Training

After my Silver Comet partner dumped me for this morning's ride, I activated Plan B: the Blood Mountain ride. I arrived just South of the loop at 07:30 and found I wasn't the only masochist with a bike and a penchant for hills.

Flip-flops off, shoes on, and barrelling down the hill I went. A few minutes more of flying downhill and I started to consider how much it was going to suck getting back to the car. I was wrong.

I chose a counter-clockwise course that featured long segments of uphill followed by slightly less downhill which all accumulated (I eventually learned) into the final descent (as depicted by the long, wiggly line across the bottom of this map). Perhaps second only to glacading down the Coleman, this descent was ... consuming: a multitude of sharp, banked turns, trees flying by, deafening wind. Next time I'll have my helmet cam mounted to the bike. That's going to be awesome.

Thirty-six miles of huffing up hills and soaring back down finally concluded as I coasted to a stop back at my car, pulled a Mr. Rogers with my flip-flops, downed some water and headed back towards civilization.