Evening Ride-Around

If you did not ride at sunrise, then Saturday evening was a good option. Especially if the day was spent catching up with yard work and the odd trip around town for sundries.

With town being something of a destination for water view dining, and a nice town to visit for a stroll  I found I was quickly immersed in a mix of "Harborfest," dinner, church, and returning-from-the-beach traffic.

So, what do you do when confronted at a T-junction by a heavy stream of traffic on the other side of the road, and that just happens to be the direction you wanted to go in? Oftentimes I take the path of least traffic resistance and see where it takes me.

Back around into town and "go play in traffic" again. Well might as well just enjoy the ride around. Avoiding traffic again took me down to the Town Dock for a brief look-see.

The approaching rain clouds gave the bay a luminous moodiness. Good strolling weather, but not good riding traffic. I climbed back up the hill and took one last look at the silvery waters before seeking better routes.

The last portion of the ride took me to a hill known by some cyclists as "Hill Looks Tougher Than It Is."

What?!  I'm not sure who that applies to, and I know these are not mountains here, but for years this hill has been reducing me to a spent, slogging grind up the last 50 yards.

Neon Gypsy by DuClaw from Baltimaw.
A bit on the sweet side at first (hint of apricot
from the hops), but taste improves
as it goes down.
Better after a ride, when thirsty.

It's a rotten, sketchy affair, as the approach is a long, fast, busy single-lane downhill into a junction where oncoming traffic is just as likely to be turning left as going straight.

This means you're going to be feathering the brakes with a beady eye on the flow and intentions of the northbound traffic, while still hoping to keep some momentum for an adrenaline-charged out-of-the-saddle uphill sprint as far as you can take it before sitting down and shifting into spin, and in my case, eventually grind mode.

Yesterday was no bargain. I was descending alongside a heavy stream of traffic, blinkies on.
At least the descending cars and SUVs were "discouraging" oncoming traffic from turning left across our path.


So without a lot of mo, I did not do the usual blast up the first part of the ascent but took it sitting down. Big ring, smallest gears, good cadence, and then as momentum began to wane, went out-of-the-saddle to finish it off, downshifting one cog at a time as needed. That took me almost to the top, until I ran out of gas, and then ... pfft! done.

Back in the saddle at house #1386 and grind the rest of the way.

Hill is still "as tough as it looks," for me but getting closer to a being a roller than a sitter. There is no "cup"  in sight on this one, but still my best time yet — 1:20, and one glass chalice of Du Claw Neon Gypsy tasted pretty good later on.