hillier than thou - metric 1991 route

finally, fiddler's elbow and ironbridge, plus mt quenby - conquered. and (we) did it without dismounting/walking, albeit in a very sloooow pace. climbing fiddler's elbow and ironbridge has always been in my list since doing several cjbc's hillier than thou rides but always opting not to do the full century simply because of the intimidating trio of fiddler's/asbury/ironbridge climbs. the last time i did this was in 2006, doing the super-metric ride ~= 80miles - a shortened version of the full century with a chicken door which skips fiddler's elbow/ironbridge.

this year, a biking buddy is planning to do event (i think), and he has the cue sheet of the 1991 metric ride starting/ending at Belvidere (A&P @Massenats Rd). he modified the route a bit to include the ironbridge climb. the weather was, i'd say, perfect on the day of the ride - no rain, no scorching heat, low humidity. we followed the cue sheet, cruising on flats, did our own version of alps d' huez ride on the climbs (these are tough climbs), and tried to break our own records on the downhills (and these are not easy downhills either), and had a blast.

fiddler's elbow and ironbridge lived up to their intimidating climb-me-if-you-can riders' dream (or nightmare). i read from one biker's journal where he said your bike's front wheel may go off the ground and you could just fall off your bike (imagine pedaling hard but the bike's not moving) when doing these climbs because of their steepness. he wasn't kidding! at times, my front wheel was lifted off the ground - in fiddler's elbow and ironbridge. but like i've said, i've climbed both without dismounting/walking (and no weaving from side to side either hehehe). however, before you say wow, let me point out that i did this on my giant tcr triple (yes, a triple!). i still could not believe how those riding a double can do it - and i envy them sooooo much. (so now, there's no 'wow'?)

also, this is the first time i've tried endurolytes, courtesy of jo-gar whose been using it and one of those who say i-can't-believe-this-stuff-really-work. from my perspective, i can't say if it really works because i don't usually get cramps during rides. however, i'm still buying a bottle to find out if it works for me when i do my other activities. to give a positive feedback, i did not feel sore in 7hrs of riding, taking one pill before the ride and every hour thereafter.

perhaps with this successful ride, i'd be more motivated to do the htt full century next time. and jo-gar too...

btw, do a search on 'hillier than thou fiddlers elbow' to get an idea on what this entry is about.