Climb Ev'ry Mountain

In this month's issue of Bicycling Magazine (yeah, yeah, I know) they had an article listing the favorite hometown rides of several American pros, Chris Horner, Levi Liephiemer, David Zabriskie, George Hincapie and Floyd Landis (I've ridden Horner's, Landis' and Zabriskie's favorites, I think that's cool). That got me to thinking, what is my favorite ride?

There's no easy answer. It depends largely on where I am, and what I feel like doing, but one thing all my favorite rides have in common is climbing. Not that I'm a great climber after 18 years of marriage, but it's hard to imagine a great ride without any climbing.

The Alpine Loop, with a trip up Squaw Peak is probably my all time favorite, but I live 1800 miles from there, so I get to ride it at most, once or twice every couple of years. The trip up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Guardsman Pass and back down is a lot of fun, and Floyd Landis' favorite, Palomar Mountain (in the San Diego area), is near the top of my list as well. Another thing these rides have in common is that the climbs are all twisty and turny. Lots of hairpins, and switchbacks to break up the monotony. That may be one reason why I like the Tail of the Dragon and the Cherohala Skyway so much.

In this area though, long climbs are rare. The longest around that is uninterrupted is the 3 mile climb to the top of Mt. Cheaha, 100 miles from my home. Most of our climbs are 1-2 miles in length, but are steeper than those out west, so they're not quite as much fun. Smyer twists and turns its way up Shades Mountain for nearly 2 miles, and is probably my favorite hill in Birmingham, just for the forested 1930's feel of the moss covered rock walls that line the road, and the trees overhanging the road to create a tunnel of shade the whole way up.

In short, the best rides usually have great climbs somewhere on the route. Cathy struggles to understand this philosophy, but hills are challenges, and there's satisfaction in getting over that challenge.

As much complaining as 90% of the people on bikes do about climbing hills, riding without hills would be boring. And we all know it.

This is my resolution to stop complaining when my ride partner says (after climbing to the top of the Alpine Loop, and descending) "hey, that was a lot of fun, let's do it again". And again, and again, and again...