Where for Art Thou, Sea Level?

"Rest Day" #2 here at the PBR World Finals turned into a 'killer' day on the road. And there was very little 'rest'. Took a buddy's advice and drove north on I-95 for roughly 30 miles, then made a left onto SR156. That was the only easy part of the morning.

Good thing i really like climbing. This 'hill' was not for the faint of heart. 17.4 miles UP. Literally. 28.0 KM for those of you more metrically inclined. If you are lucky enough to own the book "The Complete Guide to Climbing (on a bike!)" then you have read about this hill in the "Nevada" section. And it was well worth the effort to get there. The climb starts at over 3000 ft. of elevation, and finishes at over 8300ft.

Now, for a sea-lubber like myself, this poses some unique mental and physical hurdles. One, that crushing feeling in my chest that started to occur after about 30 minutes of exercise had to be monitored rather extensively. Two, most climbs i do last, at most, 20-25 minutes (this took me 2hrs to complete), so the never-ending visual of a 'tilted' horizon took some getting used to. Three, the temperature variance was off the charts- even leaving as early as 7:30AM, it was still almost 70 degrees in the valley, but by the time i reached the 'summit' (which was actually the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort), it was in the low 40's.

Nature vs. Man tally on the day: 10 cars passed me, but over 50 different birds flew above and around my slow-moving form. Of the 10 cars, 4 were actually trucks- either Forest Service or delivery. I'd take those odds any day on a bike ride.

After somehow not giving up, and taking pictures at the top for a few minutes (note SNOW-covered 'run'), it was a speedy descent. I decided to make things interesting by alternating 30 seconds 'HARD' with 30 seconds recovery...that really started to take its toll...i figured my heart would be acclimated on the way down, but no such luck. It still reverberated throughout my chest, neck, and head all the way to the bottom. May not have been the smartest thing to keep 'pushing' after feeling this way, but it was overwhelmingly motivating to be zipping along between 30-40 mph for half an hour.

If you are a climber, i would put this on your 'to do' list. Especially if you find yourself in Sin City, in shape, with a bike, a car, and a few hours to 'kill'.

And by the way, no cell service starting at about 7 miles up, so make sure you have that ROAD ID on...