Assault on Saratown Mountain

Jim Olson and I conqured the first mountain this weekend in a 52 mile bike ride up Saratown and back. Jim probably added another 3-4 miles on top of that because of his starting point compared to mine. The goal for me is to tame one of the 3 mountains every week from now until at least my half-ironman on May 7. Allowing for a week a tapering for that event,and a week of spring break that only leaves 9 weekends for me. The rest of the group will have an additional month of training. Somehow we need to work in at least a day trip to Snake Mountain. It will either need to be in mid April if there is a warm weekend then, or between my half ironman and 3 Mountain Madness (May 7 and June 4). That is a tight time frame.

The ride was good for me. I made the trek with no issues and felt surprisingly fine on the ascent. Even the ride back felt easy. It was a rather tough day - windy and still cold. Despite how easy it felt, I was wiped out when I got home. I had to take an hour and a half nap afterwards.

I was impressed with Jim, though. He has only done a handful of rides in the 50 mile range ever and only been on his bike 2 or 3 times in the last few months. He made the climb up without stopping on his first attempt. Pretty good for an old fart! His energy level was not quite as strong over the last 10 miles, but he managed to complete the ride wihtout having to call in the calvary. A 40 mile ride would have been more appropriate for both of us, but now since we started we might as well keep it up.