Shades of Paris Roubaix

What to do? That was the question after I had finished my morning activities. It was about 2pm, 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and mostly sunny. My Finna Bike friends were going on a group ride around Paradise from SF and as I couldn’t partake as I’m not in the same state (currently), decided to go on my own Paradise ride.

I wiggled into my bibs and XS skin-tight jersey and sprayed sunscreen all over my body, followed by slathering some more over my face and neck. Sunburns hurt. Tires pumped up to 80 PSI, Wahoo attached at 75% charge, rear bike light attached, two water bottles filled and I was ready to set out.

There were two main ways to get to Paradise Hills off of Interstate 70 - either through Lookout Mountain or through Morrison and Grapevine. I elected to go south through Morrison. A short scenic climb through Red Rocks was followed by a short descent into Morrison followed by a shallow climb up to Idledale. Yes, the place is literally called Idledale. Grapevine’s road conditions were even shittier than I remembered. Abject garbage. Fortunately, with my dialed in saddle fit, I didn’t experience any discomfort around the goodies. A short descent followed the somewhat-lengthy climb and I was at the base of Paradise Hills. I’d taken this road up Paradise Hills by car before, but never by bike. It was quite steep, averaging 10% for multiple multi-hundred-feet segments. At the top, I decided to push on a bit more to get a bit more elevation as the legs felt fine. And spontaneously decided to turn onto Colorow and keep going higher. A short detour to Lookup Mountain parking lot, and I was heading back home.

I elected to take the long way back rather than go on Highway 40. Descending Grapevine was horrible. Something in my headset thunked with every bump. Maybe it’s time to figure out what to do about the FutureShock. Or maybe it’s time to sell this bike and get a new one. We’ll see.

I had unfortunately only brought three pieces of food and was absolutely famishing by the time I got to Idledale again - only 2 Kirkland granola bars and a small bag of Black Forest Organic Gummies. I decided to again take the “long way” through Red Rocks rather than take Rooney. A quick push up Dinosaur Ridge’s backend and I was on Alameda, ready for the final short climb, which was mercifully pretty quick.

All in all, very nice ride, with little discomfort. Slight medial twinge in my right knee but it didn’t worsen. Left heel felt good despite the runs from the last two days. No nipple chafing since I put some chamois butter on them (lol). Also put a buttload of chamois butter all around the goodies and sit bones today to prevent chafing and it seemed effective. I’ll have to go back to applying this stuff. Maybe I’ll get the minty Euro-style creme next time :)

Overall, despite being a >100ft/mi ride, was not particularly difficult as most of it was tempo with a conscious effort to keep things above 80 RPM cadence even if I had to gear down to 34/32. I think I’ve put on significant weight in the last 6 months as I feel a bit slower than usual, but I don’t have a scale, so I’ll have to figure out how I can weigh myself.

It’s supposed to pour tomorrow, so a ride is likely out of question, so I’m happy I managed to get a longish ride in.