Monday, July 21, 2008

Mountain Mama Prep: A Real Long One



Well, as preparation for the Mountain Mama on August 2, I went north to PA, to find some real mountains...not planning to do too long a ride....I found myself gettingup at 6:00 am and then suddenly some 85 miles out of State College, in a little place called Selinsgrove PA, after 3 climbs, including the ugly Ulch Gap, with grades of 15 to yes, 24 percent in spots, short but steep....here is the route

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=127832&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=6242128&backgroundDatasourcePk.pkValue=11

Was doing fine after some lager (no hefeweizen) at the Selinsgrove microbrewery, pretty good place:

www.selinsgrovebrewing.com


but left knee started to give me some problems around mile 105, on a hot hot stretch heading back...by the time we got to Hickernell Well, I was in serious pain, but our spirits had been buoyed by the arrival of Kurt K, who had slept in and started out at 1:30, 45 miles out from SC. Kurt numbed me up with four bottles of ice cold Hickernell Well water, and we chatted with a couple who were going to spend 30 minutes at the well filling up water jugs, they claim the water is the best in the state....back in the saddle and another hard climb, then downhill and rolling into Spring Mills, where the acute pain forced an abandonment after a meager 135 miles. Think it may be an inflamed tendon, will be taking it easy before Mama..rescued by Dad and son Nic, whisked back to town and some tall beers at the Autoport...what a ride...

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