I Like Big Hills And I Can Not Lie

The favorite part of my commute is the last hill before I get home. It's about a mile long and snakes around with the perfect percent of climb.



I like it even more now that it's dark, and the bike lane is super wide making for one of the most enjoyable climbs in my area.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I love climbs. The longer, the better - which is probably why High Pass Challenge didn't scare me away from biking even though it was very cold, very rainy, and very hilly. There's something so meditative about climbing hills - when I climb hills it's just me and my bike working in perfect unison. Fortunately there's tons of hills in my area and when we come out on the other side of winter, I have a long list of hills to conquer.

But today I'm not biking to work. Say what? A combination of things made it impossible for me to ride my bike in, so instead I'm driving. Grrrr. It's strange going off my routine and I feel something is missing. However, I will be back on the bike tomorrow.

I bought rain pants, shoe covers, and waterproof gloves last night at REI. It's supposed to rain -  a LOT - tomorrow, making it perfect test conditions. I know all too well that just because something is supposed to be waterproof doesn't necessarily mean it it. The jury hasn't even been led out to the court room yet.

Not sure if I'm doing a weekend ride this coming weekend because while I've been biking, things have piled up a bit. I have people to see and places to be, plus there's a big storm heading in my direction and we all know how much I love to bike in headwind. Knowing myself, chances are I will be biking so we'll see.

I didn't take the lane on my way back home last night and it was fine. Since the attempted murder of earlier this week, I'm not sure if taking the lane is the correct solution. One could argue that statistics speaks for taking the lane. So far there's only been one asshat out of probably 100 cars that have passed me, which for the most part makes taking the lane the best option. But then there's the fact that it only takes one - it only takes one terrible driver and it's game over. And then it doesn't matter how many cars passed me and nothing happened, because I will still be dead or seriously injured.

I'm getting a new helmet today and I'm excited about it. I'm conducting an experiment to see if this will help traffic safety.