Tough ride!

Our 3rd TNT DR training ride was pretty hard. Evidently it was re-routed from the original route on account of some road construction.

We started out from Sonoma and headed up Trinity Grade, then went through Saint Helena and up Spring Mountain Road. Trinity Grade and Spring Mountain are both steep climbs, with sustained grades on the order of 12-15% or more. Many of us (including me!) had to walk a bit up Spring Mtn. But we'll get stronger as the season progresses.


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I hit a very low ebb at around mile 45 as we were riding on Route 12 back to Sonoma in a headwind. I had about had enough by then! One of our coaches, Paul, hung back with a couple of us slowpokes and towed us back through the wind. My hero! Somehow I managed to get past that low point and I felt a lot better once we got out of the brunt of the wind, so I managed to finish fairly strong.

It was about 60 miles and about 4800 ft of climbing, with much of the climbing on grades in the double-digits. Woot!

I'm really pleased with how I did, all in all.