Death by Hills

Grant, who is new to Austin (fellow Whittie), needed to taught a little lesson in humility. (And by that I mean, he doesn't at all need that lesson, but it made for a good opening sentence.) So we took to the hills of Redbud Trail.

In case that terrain map of the hilly parts doesn't do it justice. This is the ride we did:

So, yeah. It was kinda steep. That's about a 5% grade, which is a Category 4 climb when you translate into Tour de France lingo. Which is the easiest hill that actually is dubbed as a climb... but I think if its steep enough that its worthy of recording for pro cyclists, it falls into the "Damn Tough" Category in my climb grading system.

But the best part is that Grant rode these death hills on his fixie (that's translated as "fixed-gear bicycle" for the non-hipsters of you out there). Meaning he didn't have gears. Meaning he couldn't gear down. Meaning his thighs exploded. (Not to mention that unlike a single-speed, a fixie cannot move w/o the pedals moving--so he didn't even get to enjoy the downhill coasting!)

Anyway, huge props to Grant for even trying to take these hills on with a fixie. There's no way I would have been so stupid brave.

I won't be around the computer much this weekend. I'm flying out to LA to take a road trip back to Austin in order bring one of our teammates out here. I'd just like to highlight Hillary's dedication to this cause: she's so committed that she's moving all the way out here, just so she can run that 5K in October. Many props and kudos for that!

Happy Riding!