Mountains of Misery 2006

Mountains of Misery is a 101 century that ends with a 4 mile climb up the backside of Mountain Lake. This is a CAT1 climb and is the climb that Lance Armstrong broke away from the field with at Tour Du Pont.

My wife did it two years ago and sort of at the last minute decided to do it again this year. Cycling is like childbirth. It creates selective memory. That is why we have two kids and not just one.

The last time she did the ride, she was really prepared and had even done a century in training. This year not so.

It was hot too. upper 80's We drove out there and took a shuttle to meet her. By chance she rode by the shuttle stop right when we got there.



At the top we hung out and waited and waited.

Riders were slowly finishing one by one. 7hrs+ into it. I've done this ride twice. It is a HARD HARD mother.
Dumb ass people take off at the start, pushing pacelines of 25mph plus. The lead group can do it and hold it to the end. But a lot of people really pay the price when they get to the end, and have NO clue how brutal this last climb is. It's climbs like this that make compact cranks sell like hotcakes.

Finally we saw her coming. The little one ran out to run with her up and almost got taken out by a stud on a fixed gear.



He was so sweet. He said "I'll help pull you up the hill" And he proceeded to grab her handle bars. He almost pulled her over.

At this point my wife was in tears, and rode it on into the finish.



It was hard being at the finish and seeing everyone roll in on fumes. I sort of wanted to be there too. Recall what I said about selective memory? The two times I did this were bad. I am much better on a mountain bike. The first time I walked a lot, the second time I cleaned it, but it still hurt so bad.

We are talking of doing it next year together. But if I do, I am going to prepare very well. I don't care how long it takes, I just want to finish looking like a human being.