It is now 1.49pm and I am sitting showered and relaxed so *grin* I think its a little bit obvious things did not pan out. We knew that there were approx 7-9 miles of climbing involved in this route and it took us up about 2000-2500 feet in elevation. We didn't realise exactly how hard this climbing would be! I think that I am doing well on my improvements in cycling, slowly getting faster in the Clarksville routes we ride. Knoxville is the great equalizer. *LOL* The elevation involved in this ride was HARD. I found myself in the lowest gears for a lot of the hills, going at a ok cadence (about 60ish) but I found myself getting more and more drained. At mile marker 12.5 of the ride I think everyone was feeling similar as a consensus was that with 40 miles on the route left we were unsure if we would be able to complete it (we were about 1 - 1.5 miles from the peak). A decision was made and we turned round for some nice 30-40 mile an hour coasts back down the (mountain *LOL*) hill.
As it stands I think we are going to try for another 10-15 mile ride tomorrow so YAY us.
Stats for the Ride:- Trip Distance : 25.03 miles
- Trip Time : 2hrs 04 mins 08 secs
- Average Speed: 11.88 mph
- Average Cadence: 64 rpm
- Max Speed: 39.35 mph
Ok time for more Knoxville fun. Laters S.
Edit: Gabe and Jen both thought the elevation image given by gmaps didn't do the climb justice so I have scanned the elevation info from the book which gives a better picture.
I really enjoyed the hills, and I felt I could have gone on, but well...my back was tightening up. Not worth the back ache the next day. We need to do that more often. :)
ReplyDeleteyeah, I have to agree while it was hard climbing I know we need to do more climbing to get better stamina and get more used to hills. Hit it home when the old cyclist passed us like we were sitting still *LOL*
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