Oxygen or Altitude? A Perfect Ride

Club Hypoxia ride August 11 (photo courtesy of Zin)

Placing oneself in unfamiliar situations brings certain jitters. There are those that relish such adventures and for whom unfamiliarity is familiar. For most of us with less bravado, our comfort zone is in the familiar. yet when we embrace the unfamiliar, more often than not these experiences do not disappoint and become strong memories.

A bike ride is not a great leap into the unknown. But there was some unfamiliarity. A distance of 65 miles not before attempted. A ride with people one does not know. A rental bike of uncertain fit. A Colorado mile high ride for a flatlander. A last minute decision to come to Colorado for five days, a break catalyzed by the spur of the moment whim to do this unknown ride found on the bikejournal.com forum. So it was with some jitters I approached the day.

Embracing the unfamiliar does not mean throwing planning out the window. I have been riding hard in Texas. I carried a record four water bottles on this ride, so concerned about the risk of dehydration in the strange environment. Two bottles contained two different types of electrolyte replacement and the other two bottles were just water. What if these folks I am meeting were hard core cycling masochists, Prefontaine on wheels, ready to hammer everyone into the mountainside, especially fresh meat from Texas? The cell phone was powered up, a map was left with my wife to come rescue me from any maniacal beings. Being an anal rententive engineer, I arrived 20 minutes early to the start location.

I needn't worry as the Club Hypoxia riders were the perfect hosts who took me on the perfect ride. Bikeprincess and deadhead (their nicknames on bikejournal.com) arrived first and took care of me as the rest steadily joined us at the start.

After introductions and final preparations, we headed out on our metric century. We rode a no rider left behind loop with enough stops to regroup and recover. My fellow riders were capable, considerate, prepared, positive, friendly and safe. The roads were in good condition, the weather sunny, and the pace varied. I could not have asked for anything more, it made all the training wortwhile.

The ride had enough challenge in it for me. First of all, I now understand what all those gears on my bike are for. They are for hills. We don't have hills in Houston, so there is not a lot of gear changing. I think I have carpal tunnel syndrome from all that gear changing on this ride. The locals called it a flat ride, as there was only 3200 vertical feet of elevation completed across the 65 miles. I call it hilly.

The first hill was a downhill. The locals zoomed down it. I crawled down it gripping the brakes. This was no bridge downhill, the grade was more than I have attempted. There was a curve at the bottom that looked like a hood ornament factory for cyclists colliding with oncoming vehicles. Or so it looked to me.

Where there is a downhill, there is an uphill. This uphill was short, but steep enough to be a bayou embankment in Houston. I did not train on any bayou embankments. The local zoomed up it. I started to zoom up it and decided I needed to change gears. Off pops the chain. Can I unclip up the side of a bayou embankment to avoid falling on my side? I guess I can, because I unclipped a pedal and avoided a fall. The chain was on likety split and off I went. My fellow riders had circled back, led by Sunshine1. Thank you friends.

The next hill I remember was the big one. A 500 foot rise to Carter Lake, which included 4 switchbacks up the side of the steep 'hill'. It was tough but I actually enjoyed it. We regrouped at the top and took the picture above. Then came the unbelievably long downhill that looked like a double black diamond to me. I felt like I usually do at the top of a ski run looking down a slope I should never be near. At least with a bike I have brakes. Fortunately the locals waited for me at the bottom of the hill, since this was just a little green run for them.

Rather than go through the rest of a glorious ride, let's just leave it at the bottom of the hill.