GMR/GRR 07/23/11

Seems Alyce has become a billy goat. One trip up GMR to the Shack and it was on, been 3 weeks in a row now. Each week a bit further than the previous. Today Herb invited his sister Sue and bother -in-law Steve to join the ride. Good strong riders, no problem at all climbing GMR/GRR for the first time. ABEC also joined us on the ride. He arrived early and did a couple of miles before we got there. Not to mention a few repeats here and there.

A few of the regulars on the mountain, GMR, Matt and a few others. I also got a quick hello to Hubcap on his way up. Poor Gina, she seemed to suffer on the climb today. But hey, climbing 3,000 ft on a bad day is nothing to be ashamed of. At Peacock Saddle we decided to wait for the others to venture on as Gina was pretty bushed at that point. A minute or two after the others left Gina said, "what the hey, let's go". We headed out only to see Herb and Alyce returning. Cool, lets head back. We stopped in the shade and waited for Sue and Steve to return with their tour guide ABEC.

Sue and Steve seemed to be very pleased with the ride. Further proof going to show that once a rider does GMR, they only want more ha ha! I did try to record some heavy breathing on a steep section for forum member "Freighttraininguphill". According to MapMyRide, the max grade on the steep section of one mile is 20% (could be wrong as many claim of MapMyRide, maybe 14% but who knows). Either way, the breathing is there but nothing like FTU's videos, Hey, I tried ha ha!