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My friend Monica was leading Rocky Butte Hill Repeats for the social bike club I used to belong to tonight. She wanted to borrow a DVD and we both thought that meeting at the Rocky Butte would be a good place to transfer the disc. I decided to take the fixed gear bike and do a little preride for miles, since I had no plans to try to grunt that thing up Rocky Butte.
I started from Sellwood and rode the Springwater Corridor Trail toward Boring. It started raining lightly just as I arrived at Cartlandia.
I proceeded to the end of the Springwater Corridor Trail in Boring then turned around retraced my route as far as I-205 where I turned north toward Rocky Butte on the I-205 Path. As predicted, the rain increased as the afternoon progressed.
I arrived at Rocky Butte and saw Monica waiting inside her car. Nobody from the social bike group showed up. (one of the reasons that it is my FORMER social bike club). She was going to ride anyway, and I thought I should keep her company. I was concerned because I did not think I'd be able to ride up Rocky Butte, and I was certain that I would not be able to ride down Rocky Butte. There are two ways up, one being slightly easier than the other. Monica had pity on me and we started up the easier route. I was surprised that I was able to ride up. It was tough, I resorted to a few "paperboy weaves" and a turn into a driveway to catch my breath, but never put a foot down.
I made it to the top, took a lap around the summit, then braved the descent. As anyone who has ever ridden fixed gear will attest, it is harder to come down a hill than it is to go up. I did manage to make it all the way down without using my brakes, but I was putting a lot of back pressure on the cranks.
Monica was waiting for me at the bottom. She was wondering if I was up for another lap. I responded that it wouldn't be hill repeats if I didn't repeat! Up we went again. I actually did a bit better on lap two. No weaves, just one duck into a driveway to give the legs a rest. Again, no foot down.
We took our lap around the top, then back down we went.
Monica wanted to go up the harder way. I figured I'd give it a shot, knowing I could just turn around when it got too tough. I was surprised to find I could get up it, without stopping, without weaving. It was slow and ugly, but I got to the top! I decided to go back down the less extreme side.
Monica went back down the way we went up. We met at the bottom. It had taken me 80 minutes to do 3 repeats. Back when I was leading this ride I got up to 8 repeats in 90 minutes. I'm not sure which is harder, 8 repeats on the carbon bike, or 3 on the fixie!
Monica went for one more repeat, I waited for her. I had enough hill climbing for tonight! After she came back down we said our goodbyes. She loaded her bike and drove off. I put on lights and pedaled back to Sellwood.
Readers will know that I'm planning to celebrate my 10th One Day STP by riding it on the fixie. I feared I wouldn't be able to ride the bigger hills on this remarkably flat event. Tonight's Rocky Butte ride will make me reconsider that assessment.
Tonight's route can best be viewed HERE.
............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........58................0..............0...............0............58
Jan............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........701.............0..............0...............0............701
April........72.................0..............0...............0............72
Total..........2061...............0..............0...............0.........2061
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