2nd try

Went for a 2nd go at Cantelow. I thought with a granny gear, I would surely make it to the top. But it wasn't to be. Of course it got up to 104 degrees, and I had added a rack and trunk on my bike. Heck, I felt the weight difference on the flat! But I think it was the heat. It was that last incline again, and I felt my heart pounding, but it was my core temperature, I thought I was one of those thermometers that was about to blow. Way hot.

Rode with an older and very fit friend from tennis. She suffered from the heat too. I stopped, and I thought she was going to ride by and wait for me on the top, but she had to stop too. We had to stop on the flats on the way back to town, it was so hot! I actually ran out of water after I got to the edge of town. It was 58.55 miles.

Tomorrow I'll go on a club ride of about 35 miles to recover. It's still supposed to be 104, but it'll be maybe 2 hours on a bike, not 4! And all flat.

My goal is to make it up WITHOUT STOPPING! I did the rest of it better/faster, since I was more familiar with it, and only one part gave me trouble before the last incline. And down was easier too! Sat way back on the saddle, and lost that 'oh god, I'm going to roll over the handlebars any moment' kind of feeling. Anyway, I had to stop doing down - 2 bikers where going up, and a big ole truck trying to go around them, and took up MY part of the path, so I got off the pavement, and let them by. Really slow, not scary, like when that white truck raced past 2 bikers side by side, and nearly did a head-on into me. That provoked an anxiety attack the next time I went by that section, although I brushed it off at the time. The mind/body reactions are a funny thing.

Love the trunk though. It's comforting to an earth sign. A place to put things. Awesome.