It all started on a cool (think 40 degree F) morning, at 6am when my alarm so rudely awakened me from a fairly pleasant slumber. Oddly enough I was dreaming about hiking only to be awoken to go biking. 2 eggs later and I hit to road to meet up with The Bulls-eye Bikes Club for 7am. There were 6 of us to start with though we would gain 1 and lose 2 later on in the ride.
Being completely unaware of what was lurking down the road, I saddled up and headed out with the group. As it was a bit chilly, I kept my fleece on over my bike top though I opted to leave the long pants in The Dingo for safe keeping. We rode North out of town, heading over the interstate (Is it called an interstate in Canada or is it just a highway? Route 16 anyway). Hanging a left, we pedaled West past quiet farms and newly tilled fields, the sun beaming down and the wind quiet, for now. Coming to the end of the range road, we connected up with RT 779 West of Spruce Grove and again turned North.
Now the fun begins! RT 779 (and most of the Northbound routes out of Spruce Grove & Stony Plain) heads up into the Glory Hills. Remember those wonderful hikes I wrote about at Chickakoo Lake? Well, 779 is the road I take to get to those hills. I took one look at the road ahead (refer back to last weeks post with the pic of where I had been) and said to our daring leader, Herb, "We're headed to the top of that thing, aren't we?". Herb confirmed my suspicions. We were, indeed to ride to the top of the world on RT 779. Now, remember that I am riding with a group of seasoned cyclists, all with lovely road bikes and plenty of racing experience under their belts. Even though this was a "long, slow" Sunday ride, the pace so far was faster than I'd been riding on my own.
And so up the hill I went... One slow peddle stroke at a time. At one point, it began to feel like the hill that would never end and by the time I made it to the top of the world on 779, I was dripping sweat and ready to lose the fleece. About this time I realized that I hadn't really been drinking much for water (also known as the nutrient sludge - due to the addition of several supplements/powders to give me energy and keep me hydrated). I started down the other side of the hill only to meet up with the other riders headed back in my direction. You see, the rules of the ride are that we re-group at every major intersection/turn of the ride. The faster riders often double back and then ride the section a second time while waiting for the slower riders (in this case me). We took a right and headed East towards what I can only guess is the Northern end of Calahoo out of Spruce Grove through I am not sure.
Now, by this time the ride had become quite fun as the Eastern headed road was a slow gradual downhill. Ah! This is what I had done all of that work for! Taking another right, we headed South back towards Spruce Grove. Here we picked up Nadine and continued down, down, down, the hills. Hill after glorious hill! All heading DOWN... Joyous day! :D We regrouped and bid Cory farewell as Herb made the announcement that we were to complete our ride by heading back around the same loop we had just ridden, only in reverse... SAY WHAT????
Now bear in mind that I was not tired (a little muscle fatigue but nothing horrible) and it was still pretty early in the morning (8:45ish) and we'd only completed 20 miles (35 km) and my goal was to get close to 45 miles for the day. I firmly told myself that I could do this and turned my bike Northward again. Little did I know that I was to meet my arch nemesis - THE MASSIVE HILL OF DEATH! I had thought that the hill on RT 779 was big, long, never-ending. Boy was I wrong. Compared to the behemoth that was facing me, 779 was an anthill!
I'd be willing to bet that what took a matter of minutes to descend in my highest gear (and that wasn't fast enough for me) took at least 20 times as long to ascend in my lowest set of gears. This hill was determined to have the best of me. Though I never gave it the satisfaction of making me dismount. My mind was made up. I would ride this thing to the top! I have to say THANK YOU to Herb here. He must have ridden each of the 3 sections of this hill at least 2x as he circled back for me at the top of each crest. It helped not to be left to my own designs on this beast of a hill. And here is where Don left us for the day. The Hill having conquered him quite thoroughly (or he had better things to do), he turned and road down again.
The rest of the ride is more of a blur... a slow, gradual uphill blur for a good part of it before attaining the peak of RT779's hill where I could cruise (as fast as my short little legs would go) to the bottom and pick up the East heading road back to Spruce Grove where The Dingo was waiting to take me home. We covered nearly 40 miles in 3.5 hours. A pace far quicker than any I've ridden alone. The one misstep that I took was not putting on the long pants after the ride. I hopped in The Dingo and headed home only to have both thighs make a major attempt at cramping on me. Thankfully home is a quick 5 minute (or less) drive and a hot shower and stretch awaited me. And a nap! Yes, I took a nap in the middle of this day and fell asleep straight away!
Now, I have attempted to capture a map for your viewing pleasure. However, I believe that The Massive Hill of Death has such strong powers that it has actually managed to obscure itself from the mapping device. I'm afraid that the road should have hooked back down towards the starting point (on the right hand side of the map), making a box rather that an open sided rectangle... But, such is the strength of The Hill....
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