Saturday, July 12, 2003

As with the previous day, I waited for the sun to start heading south on Friday, before going for a ride. I accidentally labored under the assumption that on the same day last year, I'd climbed 3400+ feet. I wanted to equal that effort, but I only managed 3011 feet, and thought I'd fallen short. After I returned home, I saw from my ride log that last year I'd only climbed a little over 2400 feet on this day. And I managed 13 miles more this year, up to 32 from 19.

But frankly, it took a long time to cover those miles, and finding 3000 feet wasn't easy, either. First I rode up Nichols Canyon, in the Santa Monica mountains, for a little over 1000 feet. Then I headed east on Mulholland Drive, enjoyed the view of the Hollywood sign, and dropped down into Cahuenga Pass, before climbing up the other side, to reach Wonder Drive and enjoy a forshortened look up, toward Cahuenga Peak. Then I headed down and around the Hollywood Resevoir, and kept riding up toward the base of the Hollywood sign until I'd gotten my 3000 ft.

I've started dispensing with my Camelbak - I prefer nothing on my back. Today I was a lot more comfortable going 'bakless. I took two water bottles with me, and I refilled them from fountains in front of two beautiful homes.

Knocking off the first two thousand feet - climbing up Nichols Canyon and then up above the Hollywood Resevoir - seemed straight forward. Gaining the last 1000 feet, as I rode along the network of narrow roads above and east of the resevoir, was more difficult, and seemed very time consuming.

Looking at my riding logs from the past two years, I see I have my work cut out for me if I want to acheive the same or nearly same level of fitness. I'm not sure I can do it.

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