Story for Hard Skyline Drive ride with Jay

There's no such thing as an easy ride on Skyline Drive--you're either bombing downhill or grunting your way up a long climb.  And so it was as I tried to keep up with Jay on the way up to Dickey Ridge, a category 2 climb that goes straight up for about 4 miles.  It's not so steep, but it's long and unrelenting.  Once you get to Dickey Ridge, there's a small flat section, followed by a few more miles of climbing before you get to an actual descent.     

In Turkmenistan there was a much more brutal hill not far from where I lived, an 8% grade that climbed about 1900 feet over five miles.  I did that climb a few times, but always alone and at my own pace.  

Nothing will beat you into the ground faster than trying to keep up with a rider in better shape that you are.  And Jay was (and is) most definitely a stronger rider than I am, so after 20 minutes or so of holding his wheel I dropped back.  With 40 more miles ahead of us, I didn't want to drain my entire tank in the first hour of a four-hour ride.  

Thirty miles and 2600 feet of climbing later we reached Thornton Gap, our turnaround point.  As we chugged Gatorade and ate the least junky junk food we could find in the convenience store, we met this couple and their dog.  They were avid cyclists who now spend most of their time on motorcycles.

Heading back to Front Royal, the first hill out of Thornton Gap is the so called "Back of Hogback" segment on Strava.  The climb itself isn't so hard, but now I paid for trying to keep up with Jay on the way up to Dickey Ridge.  As they say, "no pain, no gain," but in cycling a lot of pain at the beginning of a ride leads to even more pain at the end of the ride.      

Type: 
Ride
Workout_type: 
default
Date: 
2016-08-29T13:52:56Z
Avg Pace: 
2:42/km
Elevation: 
1923
Distance: 
105234
Moving time: 
17062
Activity id: 
693660012
Strava title: 
Hard Skyline Drive ride with Jay
Total photo count: 
2
Title: 
Story for Hard Skyline Drive ride with Jay
Summary Polyline: 
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Average speed: 
6.168
Language: 
English
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