2017 resolutions - yours?

Machka9

Machka9 wrote: »

Goals for 2017

Various goals ...


Cycle up Mt Wellington again.


And some more goals.

Done!

My husband and I cycled up Mt Wellington yesterday!!

73.4 km with 1636 metres (5367.45 feet) straight up the side of the mountain. Not an easy ride!!

We started with a 10% climb out of our suburb, and set of rolling hills, and then the real climbing began. Climbing from 8 km to 39.6 km ... there's even an HC category climb in the middle.

I was doing all right at first, all the way to Fern Tree (about 29 km into the ride), and then there's a turnoff for the main part of the climb to Mt Wellington, and it's steep in the first kilometre or so, reaching 17% at one point. With what strength I had, I kind of chuckled when I heard the kookaburra start up in the tree next to the road. Isn't that the way, just when I'm dying on a climb that bird had to start laughing at me!

It kind of eases off a bit at The Springs, and then goes into a long and steady climb of about 9%. That's when my lower back and right hip started giving me trouble. I also kept wishing for an easier gear ... one gear easier is all I wanted ... but one gear easier is not what I had, and no amount of wishing magically conjured one up.

3 km from the top it eases slightly ... to only about 6% or so.

Tired, and with various and sundry aches and pains ... we successfully made it to the top!!

And then the descent.

I find descents quite challenging ... as do my poor brakes ... but we made it down and faster than the last time we did it.


We weren't sure about the weather. All week, the forecast had been iffy for Sunday and even this morning, it had rained and they were indicating strong winds on top of the mountain. However, fortunately the wind wasn't a factor on this ride. It wasn't bad at all. And although it was cloudy, we didn't get any rain until we were nearly home, and then only just a little. It's raining more heavily now.

But one interesting thing was watching the fog come up over the Derwent and bay from above ... it rose as we descended until we were among it at one point. Mist hanging in the trees just above us.