Monday Morning Madness, Montreux-style

This morning's ride was supposed to bring me two new hills to conquer - but, my friends weren't psyched about the first one, SE 56th in Issaquah. It really does look like a straight-up wall - even more so than NE 24th in Redmond (or maybe Bellevue, I can't tell the difference over there). Danielle was worried that our tires might slip and we might end up falling over while clipped in.

I wasn't going to pressure her into doing the hill, and I didn't want her to wait for us to be done. So we just pushed on and went over to Montreux, the second hill I had planned to ride.

In retrospect, given the amount of time I have to ride Monday mornings and what we're using as a starting point, it probably makes more sense to go for one serious climb per Monday, not two or three. So I'm glad we didn't do it - and even more glad once I started up Montreux.

First, my legs weren't fresh. Yesterday's ride coupled with an evening of running all over the Microsoft campus putting up signs for my husband's business meant I was feeling a bit tired. And then, well, the web site bicycleclimbs.com says that the maximum grade of the climb is 24%. I'm still a little skeptical, but I'm much more close to believing it now.

The stats from the web site say:

Montreux - 1.4 miles - altitude gain 712 feet - average gradient 10% - max gradient 24%.

I drove it last night in preparation. It didn't look that bad, honestly, but John kept saying, "Oh, this is going to suck. Wow, this part is REALLY going to suck! Hey, check that out - that curve is REALLY REALLY going to suck!"

So I interpret "suck" to mean "be an opportunity for me to prove how tough I am." And yeah, I think some of those curves did exactly that.

My speed went from 10 mph at the shallowest parts of the climb down to around 5 mph - I saw 4.7, but just for a moment. My heart rate hung out around 178. It's a fairly twisty road, but with a decent shoulder for bikes - and because the road only goes to residential areas, there were no other cars going uphill (and truth be told, only a few going down). The houses and landscaping are just gorgeous (and it was a perfect day) so there was a lot to distract me from the pain...but it was so quiet I couldn't avoid listening to my labored breathing. Danielle was breathing similarly, and Sarah and Liz were further down the hill so I'm not sure what they sounded like.

About half-way up there was a street over on the left; I wanted to take a little recovery, so I rode over there and made circles in the middle of the road for about a minute or two - then I shot back up and continued on. That little recovery really helped. At that point, Danielle had gotten off her bike for a minute, but I was feeling stubborn and thought that I wouldn't be able to let myself check Montreux off the list if I actually stopped (but circling the road on the bike is okay). These are my own rules. :-)

I wasn't quite sure where the top was, and I wasn't going to stop until I was sure. Fortunately, a man walking his dog was kind enough to tell me I'd made it. Yay! And going down - wow, that was FUN. We had a slight climb up Lakemont after that, and then got a really nice, steep downhill back into Bellevue.

Unfortunately, some jerk in a Jeep SUV decided to get in front of Danielle, who doesn't like descending too fast anyway, and basically cut her off - even though she was fully in the bike lane! I couldn't believe it. Why do people behave like that?

But anyway, the rest of the ride back felt great - there are still a couple of inclines, but it's mostly downhill and flat back to Marymoor Park.

I was hungry when I finished! Here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Reduced-fat coffee cake from Starbucks, milk in coffee: 340 cals
Workout fuel: 1/2 Luna bar, 90 cals
Breakfast: Bagel with egg, ham, and cheddar: 425 cals
Lunch: Indian food from the cafeteria, rice, naan: 600 cals
Snack: Yogurt and granola, 250 cals
total so far: 1705 (wow, that's a lot considering I haven't had dinner. I'm hungry today!)
Dinner: Chicken tacos with beans and a little bit of rice, 600 calories
Total: 2305 cals (at least they were mostly fairly healthy)

Exercise:
Ride 2 hours, 30 miles: 900 calories burned