Bike to work week and Snowbowl road

Well this week is bike to work week and people here do a great job of participating, it helps that there are lots of incentives.  I was on vacation Monday but biked in Tues, Wed, and Today.  I feel bad about not biking in Thursday but the pain in my shins led me to drive.  Wed was great as local businesses set up free breakfast stops (see map of locations) around town so you could bike to get your breakfast and then head off to work.  My favorite was Biff's Bagels where they had ample bagels, cream cheese, orange juice and coffee.

So far I only have some data but looks like on Monday 439 people biked 3889 miles to get to work and Tuesday was 447 with 3792 miles. I have to guess Wednesday may be a bit higher with the free breakfasts around town but maybe not.  Commuting other than requiring a bit more planning wasn't all that bad so I hope to continue to be able to ride in to work 2-3 times per week when the weather is good.

Snowbowl Road Ride

In keeping with the bike theme Wed was my first time climbing snowbowl road.  I didn't quite make it to the top, the climbing on the road starts at around 5.6 miles on the map below and goes for about 6.2 miles I'm told.  I made it to just after the 4 mile marker on the road (9.6 on the map ~8550ft) before turning around but that was more because of time constraints than my legs burning out.  Surprisingly the way down was a lot harder for me than the way up because I am terrified of turning on steep downhill windy roads.  I actually had to stop once on the way down to shake out my arms as my white nuckle death grip on the brakes caused my arms to tire out.

I wasn't really pushing it on the way up but next time I think I'll have to time myself and see how long it takes me to get to the top and then set a goal for the climb by the end of the summer.  Really I think the better goal is for me to be able to ride down in my drops by the end of the summer without having to stop and without breaking everytime I got over 22 on the downhill.