Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Climbing Queen Anne Ave at Night for Fun

After work I went on a seven-mile ramble with the goal of topping Queen Anne on the Ciocc. Even though it was getting dark I put on my Nike cycling cap (bought it in London!) that looks like a hunting cap:


Sometimes the cap gets a little hot, but it's nice to have something over the ears for sure.

The route went through downtown, and out to Kerry Park on the top of Queen Anne. The ride was great, and the Ciocc is responsive and fast as ever. I was wondering how the 39x23 low-gear would feel going up it, but it wasn't bad at all! Can't say it was a whole lot easier than on the Eros, but that bike definitely feels more solid on tough climbs like that.

God damn some parts of Queen Anne Ave are steep! Kerry Park has post-card-quality views of downtown, it's worth the pain to get there. And that was only the 3rd time I'd gone up it without stopping! A year ago I had to take breaks going up it.. progress!

Ride details:

min: 62.6 ft max: 375.3 ft last: 368.5 ft total dist: 7.4 mi



total elevation gain: 815.2 ft

(btw the graph is skewed b/c I clicked more points in the beginning of the route than towards the end)

I should start doing hill-repeats using that climb - it's one of the toughest near my house. And if you can't tell by reading this blog, I love to climb! (And I like to descend as fast as possible too)

Bring on the darkness, the wind, the bitter cold - but rain I can do without. Let's hope for more dry nights like this one!

No comments: