Riding Highwood Pass

On Sunday my father-inlaw, a friend of his, and I made a bid for the Highwood pass. I have wanted to ride over Highwood pass for a while, and this trip was partly why I wanted to get a new bike: a fixed gear 42-16 isn't something I want to climb a 7% grade on. My original plan was to get dropped off at the north end, and ride from one gate to the other, either getting picked up there or ride another 40 km to Longview. Riding from the gate to the top and back was a good start. Maybe next time I'll go gate-to-gate and back again or from the north end to Longview or something.

We had originally planned to ride the pass the weekend before, but rain made us reconsider. From the outset it was agreed that we would go at our own pace. After the first hill climb together, I set off at a faster pace. I didn't make as good a time as I would have liked, but it was ok for my first major ride in a long time.

After about 5 km I started thinking to myself that I should stop and go to the bathroom somewhere. But then I would look at my computer and think, I just go to 10 km. Ah, I'll wait until 15 km. And so on. Until I was at the last climb before the pass, and I had to stop and eat a cliff bar because I was running out of energy. That put me back in it though. I did have to chant "almost there" in my head though...

Gallery is having issues, so I'll post the pictures later.

UPDATE: Photos are now available.