Uphill uphill uphill. At one point 25 of 30 miles was uphill.
76 miles and 126 km or so. Elevation: plenty. Duration: 9.5 hours.
First half of the day was smooth and fast highway riding. We covered half the days distance in about 3 hours.
And then came the hills. We were moving at about 5mph for a few hours. At some points stopping every mile to keep sanity. It was switchbacks so you always hope around the next bend is some flat ground and there pretty much never was.
The first view of the lake was absolutely gorgeous. Unbelievable almost. Don’t think I’ll be able to send pictures now as I am racing the hour of wifi I just bought. They will come later.
Having gotten to the lake we thought we were about done with the climb. Not so. About 5 more miles uphill and 3 of them on gravel. Oi!
And then some downhill. Downhill like on a narrow highway with steep drop offs and no guard rails. I was terrified and so continued on at 5mph in the center of the road.
Then the village and then some sweet downhill on less scary roads to the campground. We were going, um, fast.
And today? Apparently we are going to ride around the lake and do about 5000 ft in 40 miles. Because we are clearly sick in our heads. And I just know there are going to be spots where I walk the bike due to sheer 2000ft drops.
No service in campground so communication will be sporadic or non existent.
We made it.