In a rare, but not unwelcome turn of events, not only has Laura OLPH published her post before I had a chance to get mine up, she wrote a more excellent writeup than I could have done. Although it was a foggy day (and consequently, no great views, and some wet roads), it was a great ride, The picture above is just one of the highlights; go check out her post, I'll wait (as usual, opens in a new tab).
Here's the route. And let me brag for a quick minute. I set two riding goals for this year: the first is 4000 miles by bedtime on New Year's Eve, and the second is that I would improve my downhill skills, and my measure of that would be my breaking 40mph (yeah, I know plenty of guys have done over 50, but I'm not likely to be one of 'em). Tom told us his route would include coming down Federal Twist, and bragged he'd gotten up to 50mph on it.So despite fog (which was clearing by that time) and the risk of wet roads, I decided to go for a personal best. I got out in front so I wouldn't be afraid of running into anybody (far enough so I couldn't see 'em in my mirror, so I wasn't afraid of 'em running into me); switched the GPS to map mode, so I wouldn't be able to see how fast I was going; and let fly, pedaling until I wasn't getting any feedback from the pedals in my fastest gear. I wound up with a top speed, according to Mr. Garmin, of 44.7, which is fast enough for me.
I still don't like speeding down hills where I can't see the route (because of turns, for example), or where I'm among other riders. But this was plenty fast for me, and I'm keeping it as meeting one of my goals for the year. I'm putting my kite-only certificate back in storage (oh, go look it up, already!).
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