Mike's Bike Blog

Today I did battle with Smokey Valley, one on one, man versus hill. I've ridden most if not all the monster hills Austin has to offer (Jester, Beauford, Bluegrass, Lost Creek, Courtyard, City Park, Toro Canyon, the 3 Sisters). Not at any point up any of those hills did I once think I might have to bail out. Today that thought crossed my mind.

Smokey Valley is not long by any stretch, it's only .3 miles in length, but the grade is what will get you. The average grade is 13.2% and swoops up to 19.6% at the top. Other hills seem to have roughly about the same grade, but no other hill have I had to resort to the Zig Zag technique to get to the top. If you are not familiar with the zig zag, it is when you go up the hill at an angle not straight on.

One thing that might have contributed to the difficulty is the fact that I'm still having shifting problems when I go into my lowest gear on the rear cassette, I can't shift back up. So I haven't been shifting down. I'll have to give Smokey Valley another go next week and see if I find it as butt kicking as I did today.

See the image below as my Garmin recorded my ride, note the zig zagging at the top of Smokey Valley:

If you've been following along you know one of my goals is to ride up the hill on Limecreek (the 3 Sisters) in 3 minutes and 30 seconds. On Saturday I rode up it in 3 minutes and 35 seconds. Today I rode out Limecreek for a couple of climbs up the Sisters.

My first go up it I clocked a time of 3 minutes and 30.38 seconds! Thus by rounding down, which I'm told is the norm, I've met the goal! I'm pretty stoked, now it's time to get it even lower. I'm thinking 3 minutes flat.

Even though there was a burn ban in effect I was on fire going up the Sisters!

For anybody going down Mesa there's 2 hazards to watch out for near the bottom of the hill. The first is a missing cover on a water valve hole, it is one of the smaller covers about 6" in diameter. I almost hit this at 45 MPH this afternoon on my lunch ride. This is near the bottom I'd say 3/4 of the way down the hill, just past where the bike lane ends and Mesa becomes 4 lanes.

Then next one is a little further down more inline with the office building on the right, another one of the small covers is cockeyed and not laying flush with the pavement.

I made 4 trips up Mesa for my lunch time ride.

The Tour das Hugel date has been announced for November 15 with a 7 am start time. For those not familiar with this ride it is 100 miles of the most notorious hills Austin has to offer with 10,000 feet of climbing! The ride is free of charge, but if you complete the ride then you have the opportunity to purchase a t-shirt. This will be my first attempt at this event and hopefully all the climbing I've done this past year will pay off. Who's with me?

Looking at the Tour das Hugel main page it has not been updated with the new date, however, the information page has.

What a Sunday ride, I headed into Austin to climb a few hills. Here's the hills and the order I did them in:

• Mesa
• Ladera Norte
• Far West
• Adirondack Trail
• Mountain Ridge
• Arboretum
• Bluegrass
• Beauford
• Jester
• Twin Creeks

In all the total mileage was only 54.18 miles and it took me 4 hours of active time and 4:33 of total time. I took a little breather on top of Bluegrass and then refilled my bottles at the Subway at the base of Jester. Whenever I go up Beauford I always think it's a tougher climb than Jester but that is always erased once I start up Jester.

There is some construction on Jester, it didn't really get in the way, but if you are going to attack Jester be forewarned as I'm not sure what the construction plans are and I'd hate for anybody to have to turn around due to construction. I must admit Jester really had my number today, I crawled up it at 3 to 4 miles per hour (avg speed of 4.2mph). I need to adjust my rear derailleur as when I shift into my lowest gear it wont shift out. The shifter snaps and acts like it's going to shift but the rear derailleur doesn't engage. It takes some finessing the shifters to get it unstuck. Needless to say for this ride my workaround was just not to shift into my lowest gear.

I averaged 13.5 mph for the entire ride and burned 2351 kJ. Not bad for a 50 mile ride with 5000 feet of climbing. For this ride I started off with a 2 hour bottle of Hammer Perpetuem (4 scoops) and had my second bottle prefilled with another 2 hour bottle. I also brought along my hydration pack filled with good old water. I felt great the entire ride with energy, I definitely had more in the tank to keep going. Post ride I feel fine as well, no muscle soreness.