The Suicide Ride

Sorry that I missed Tuesday. I planned on going on an awesome ride and catching some nice pictures to stick on the blog, but my legs had other plans. Follow me on a journey that you would never want to take on your bike...
So there I was on my usual ride up 9th east past the MTC and I think to myself "let's take a different route to get out to the Provo River Trail." So, I turned left at the MTC and head up the hill. That is a pretty dang good hill there by the temple, let me tell you! I got to the top and decided it was time to stretch the ole' legs...more of an excuse to catch my breath really. Yes, I have no shame.
I continued on through the residential neighborhoods above the temple... they call it "Indian Hills" because all the street names are indian names. There is a bike lane and some smallish hills along the way. Then there is a monster of a hill... I'm talking "make your car feel puney and want to pull over and rest" steep. Luckily it wasn't long, and I toughed it out and kept going. I managed to pedal my sorry carcass through the rest of Provo's Foothill Drive. Here's the kicker. (oh man, I KNOW mom won't like this!) Toward the end of Foothill Drive is a Ginormous hill (yes, Gigantic and Enormous... all put together) that goes down to meet up with Canyon road. I was able to rest on the way down, all while doing 40 mph. Yeah, and I wasn't even trying... no pedaling or anything. Well, let's just say I was all tuckered out. I just so happened to see my three buddies riding by on Canyon road heading back home from the canyon, so I folded and followed them home. I told them about the torture I just suffered, and called it good.

Here is a view from the highest point in the Indian Hills. A view of the valley and the lake.

This takes us to today. My buddy Chris and I leave for our ride, and we ecide to play it chill up ninth east. It's not hard to bike up the slight incline, but we know we're going far. We decide to stretch by the MTC to keep our muscles happy during the ride. As we get back in the saddle and get going, Chris has a stroke of genius. "Let's commit suicide". Okay, his actual words were "Hey, show me that ride you took tuesday." Yeah, I tried to tell him no, but he kept saying it wouldn't that bad. So we took the right turn just past the MTC and went up on the north side of the temple. Another breath buster. Then we procede to follow the same torture I went through Tuesday.
Okay, now let me lay some explanation down. I am really bad a pacing myself. I think it come from my days of competitive swimming. I could never figure out how to save energy for the end of the race, thus I excelled at the sprints. Well, same case for biking. Today wasn't nearly as bad as Tuesday because I paced myself. It still gave my legs the shakes, but I wasn't gasping like a fish out of water.
Lest you think I might be saying you were slowing me down Chris, you're wrong! You know how to pace... I don't. The proof comes later in the post.
So Chris and I got to the same hill before mentioned, and this time I hit 42 mph. Yeah, kinda scarey. Rest assured mom and other worried peeps, there is a very daunting ride keeping me from going down that hill.
Chris and I kept on going on the usual route after the suicide ride. We took advantage of a photo-op at Bridal Veil Falls.

Chris and I at Bridal Veil. I think we should trade bikes or jerseys so we can be color coordinated.

By the time we got to Vivian Park I was thinking to myself "well, I am sure Chris is tired, and I don't really want to go up South Fork...Let's go home." Yeah, fist words out of Chris' mouth? "We're doing South Fork, right?" My response? "You know it brother..." Was there any hint of despair in my voice? Absolutely not... Chris wouldn't even have known of my plans if I didn't have this blog... why do I feel like I have to spill my biking guts to the whole world?
We had a great remainder of the ride. We kicked butt and got a good workout. I continue to love riding my bike. It keeps me active, get's me out and helps me to know that I can do hard things. Now I just have to know if I can survive Chris and his drive. He's catching up quick!
Miles barely survived: about 33