July 11th, 2009

Ebbetts pass #3 (front side)

This pass is the longest pass of the ride and from my avg grade calculations was no more difficult than my Fresno climb. What started to get me think though was that for about the first 3-4 miles there were flats/very short rolling hills (which were beyond annoying). Throughout this part, I honestly thought “where the fuck are the climbs, give it to me already”. I didn’t think that the climb was anything special when it finally picked up. There were certain turns where I purposefully took the smallest possible turn so that I could get as close to the apex as possible just so that I could get out of the saddle and power through the turn. At one point, an ambulance pulled up besides me and the passenger paramedic asked me if I had already done monitor. I told him “yeah” in a isn’t that the way you’re supposed to do it tone and he turned to the driver and said “Dammnn!” I probably rode on for about another 5 miles where there were portions that I got out of the saddle to use a different set of muscles as opposed to hammering and overworking the muscles used while in the saddle. As I reached the top/aid station/sticker station one of the volunteers took my bike and set it aside so that I could comfortably get some water/food/nature break, etc. This was the first station that I was officially first to arrive. Everybody was surprised as it was before 830am. Had a salt packet, 1/3 of a banana, half a clif bar, chatted for about 10 min about how dangerous the descent was with so many people in my lane, and then I was off again. As I was about to descend down Ebbetts back side, I asked a volunteer what time it was and she said 830something and that I would should expect to see them again at 905-910. I said “really? I thought that Ebbetts back side is harder despite being only 5+ miles (I thought this because the avg grade for the back side of Ebbetts is 7% while the front is 6.3%)” and she responded with “No, the front side is harder, you’ve already done the hardest part of this ride so everything that remains will be a lot easier.” Honestly, I gained a little bit of confidence with this statement and made it a goal to be back before she said I would be back.