Ramble Day 20. Miles cycled: 209
Very quick update after 2 nights in Lompoc. Mostly to express some optimism. The ride from Arroyo Grande to Santa Maria was a bit of a grind. There wasn’t supposed to be headwind, but there was, and Ride with GPS sent me into another “Road Closed” sign, which caused me to have to add a couple miles near the end, when I was already tired.
Based on that, I was concerned about the ride from Santa Maria to Lompoc, which I could see had a couple of hills that are daunting for me… if not to the average rider.
When I actually got to them, I was feeling in pretty good shape. After stopping twice early on the first climb, I got a rhythm going and didn’t stop again until getting to the top.
I was a bit fatigued by the time I got to the second one, and stopped 6 times… it is a bigger hill. But, either of these was equal in elevation gain to what felt like an absolute wall between Atascadero and Morro Bay, and I managed both in probably less time than the one took me nearly a week earlier.
I got to the top of the second one, and actually said to myself that I felt “powerful.”
A longish climb tomorrow of about 1000 feet in 15 miles or so. That’s gradual enough that I’m hopeful it’ll just be a matter of slow and steady. If that proves to be manageable, it’ll give me a lot of hope for the road between Santa Clarita and Palmdale next week.
Sorry for the dry update. I’ve been messing around with organizational stuff all day, and ran out of time for a more thoughtful update.
-Lem
Lemuel's Ramble 