Ramping Up!

 

Well, this morning, I finally made it to the ramp!  I parked my car at the Sr. Center which is just a few miles from the ramp and plotted my way to the ramp, through the neighborhoods, from there. 

Down one road,  I encountered a group of men who saw me and fanned out in a line across the road.  I kept my eyes on them and when I got close shouted "Hey!" and blew right through them.  Whew!  Next time I will take a different road!

Once at the ramp I met a woman running up it and pushing a baby in a carriage.We greeted each other and I asked her how bad was the hill?  She told me, "You can make it!"  And so I did....I hate to say easily...but it was quite easy.  Then across I went and down the other side.  I quickly discovered that the back side of the ramp, coming back up, was the much harder side...but even that was quite manageable......on the first repeat! 

The bottom of the drawing is the front side of the hill

Here is my rough diagram.  The dotted lines are the turn arounds.    You are riding up and over a bridge that crosses the highway , then down the other side...repeat. On the back side...you have an up, then another up and around a tight corner then up and then up again until you cross back over the bridge.

I did 5.5 repeats in a row and of course each time it was  harder...but it was not that hard and I got bored.  I even hate to say that.  But I did.  I took a little ride to explore "the new land" and found that it dead ended along a highway with an on ramp!   Imagine that!  Not only that...but a bike path started at the very bottom on that ramp! Albuquerque is so very bike friendly!  I was in my glory!  Another ramp to practice on.  That too was a piece of cake...and I hate to say that.  But I got some good practice in and can now design a loop that will include two sets of ramps and will give me some miles at the same time.

I saw some beautiful things that I  had wished I could have taken pictures of...these metal coyote sculptures that were set in the middle of the desert with a rock wall in the background...the beautiful mosaic designs and colorful sands of the landscaping on the highway median as seen from above.....on my next round, I will photograph it before I start my speed rounds.

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