A good, very hard, day
Walked and rested more than I rode for the second half of the day, but MADE IT.
Ride Summary
Distance: 51 miles / 82 kmClimbing: 5500 feet / 1676 m
Descending: ~3000 feet / 914m
Difficulty: moderate morning, brutal afternoon
Link to first half of workout in Strava
Link to second half of workout in Strava
Had another crisis of faith (read: is this something I want to be doing, all summer?) today, prompted by of all things, a tech snafu. My bike computer refused to boot up despite being fully charged when I was done riding yesterday. It's not super essential since I have my phone and my routes are saved in RidewithGPS which is very usable from the phone, even without cell signal. But, it's a big psychological safety blanket to have the computer staring at me anytime I need to believe I'm making progress or confirm I'm not off course. Further, my phone battery doesn't last super long when being used to track activities in real time...and I'd just mailed my bike-handlebars phone mount back to the states, since I hadn't used it yet! I use the Garmin bike computer to navigate but also to track the work: How much further? (so I'm now 1/6th of the way there, and I'll be 1/5th in how long?) How steep is this anyway? (I don't try to ride 9+% grade with my load, but walk it instead since I can barely spin in first gear at that steepness with all the weight on the bike).
In this state of distraction, I rode towards the major town of the day, Osooyos, scheming about how I could possibly get a replacement computer anytime soon, plotting how I'd pitch my woes to their tech support team to convince them to send me a new one, rather than buying another computer; this one is only 2 months old and it's not cheap! I was planning to call from lunch at Osooyos; but when I got there, I did try the standard "turn it off and on again" trick - in this case, "hold the power button for awhile and try to reset it" and of course...it started right up! Disaster averted before lunch! Now I had to face down my naysaying morning-self who assumed it would take all afternoon to resolve the Garmin situation and had decided "well, we can stay in Osooyos while we work to resolve this; don't have to worry about climbing 3500 feet in the afternoon heat after all!"
Friend Elden sent me a text today that "you will" (get through it) and somehow his gentle assurance was a big part of what motivated me to set out up the hill. I walked more than half of the way up - 5+ miles on foot by my estimate - all of the steepest parts but also just when I was too tired, or the shoulder was barely there (it often disappeared on a blind corner with a steep drop off just across a large concrete barrier with no room to walk outside of it, frustratingly). I felt like maybe I could react better to an approaching car on foot rather than weaving up the hill at my "barely able to pedal" pace - 5mph (walking speed: 3.7mph, so it wasn't much slower...)
As I sat at a viewpoint at the halfway point, I had decided to solicit a ride for me and my bike. It'd have to be in a pickup truck since I can't squeeze my bike inside a vehicle and I have to be able to put my bags somewhere (I can't really lift the bike with all my gear attached to it). There were a couple likely suspects at the overlook - 2/3 of the cars parked there while I'm sitting there for 45 minutes are pickup trucks - but frustratingly, neither budges during that whole time and by this point I'm rested and say fuck it - I'll just ride/walk!
annotated picture of ONLY THE FIRST 2/3 OF THE CLIMB. It's taller than it looks from 10 miles away!!
I had left town around 1pm and got to the top of the 17ish mile climb at 5:15pm, after stopping at the only restaurant within 20 miles, which was a decent mexican cafe in the middle of nowhere. Thank goodness for the meal so I don't have to cook tonight and I was feeling pretty under-nutritioned and dehydrated by that point. But also the restaurant was at a spot where there was only 2.2 miles left to ride to the campground - and yet, 500 feet to climb still - quite a steep ending for a long day. But, I rode that whole final climb without walking after calculating that it probably at least wasn't 9+% grade. (Garmin agreed).
The campground & RV park is a little hippy-dippy but I felt welcomed and they moved me to a spot with better grass so the tent is cushy tonight. Also I was told to "shower like you're at home! 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, go nuts!" but I only took a normal shower. Still, it was my sweatiest day yet and so the shower was excellent. Set up camp very slowly, took a handful of electrolyte pills to hopefully stave off cramps that I felt coming on, and now I am typing this wearing the dorkiest hat (with the mosquito netting) since the bugs were giving me some grief, although not really the biting type fortunately.