Erich, Rob and I had some time today to check out the major climb of the Hurt Pain and Agony being held by the BMCC this weekend. From Traphill Elementary up Frank Parkway to Oklahoma Road and onto 21 is a nice hefty six mile climb with about 1700 feet of gain.
Oklahoma Road...where the sun keeps beating on our backs...
Our ride started around 3 o'clock, right in the hottest part of the day (as Rob asked for) and it was brutal. Somewhere in the mid 90's with high humidity and climbing completely exposed to the sun until the last mile or so on Oklahoma made for a very sweaty summit. Our main goal of the day was to check out this climb and Mahogany Rock Road which is a steep (but relatively) short climb that will be about 50 miles into Saturday's ride.
Once we made it up to the Parkway and started back towards Mahogany Rock we realized that we were running lower on time than we anticipated so we hopped onto 21. I was really struggling by this point after having sweated out so much on our climb.
E saluting the Eastern Continental Divide
Once back on Oklahoma, the descending began in earnest. Fun corners, some gravel (sketch) and one corner that definitely suprised E and I. Now, on Frank Parkway, the speed really got hairy. We were again in the neighborhood of 50mph, but on wide open road with great sight lines so it didn't seem so crazy. After having gotten back and loaded up there was some discussion about how the ride will be much better for us when it starts at 8AM and things are a bit more manageable heat-wise.
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