Milestone Bike Ride Today!

I met one of my riding goals this morning. I went on a ride on the Santa Rosa trails pretty much as usual and with a group of 5 or so. The Ride was a total of 25 miles - not astounding in its own right. The milestone ocurred in the first 4.5 miles, which is what it takes to get to the Buko Haus where we usually stop to get refreshed by sipping the juice from a fresh green coconut. The milestone was that I made it all of the way up Cardiac Hill without stopping and in fact all the way to Buko Haus. Up to this point I've either pedaled as far as I could go and walked the bike the rest of the way up, or more lately, pedaled as far as I could go, rested a few minutes then pedaled the rest of the way.

Today I pedaled all the way without stopping!


Here's the Buko Haus Rest Stop (N14 13.874 E121 00.939)

View looking back down Cardiac Hill from the tower. Looks much bigger and steeper when pedaling up.

Here's my GPS track (in yellow) of the days ride with the first 4.5 miles highlighted in light blue. That is the "Triumph" part. The other dotted tracks are some of my previous rides.

I do have one more goal. Don't know when I'll make that one. It is to make it all of the way up to The Palace in The Sky without being assisted. I have ridden that trail and the key part is steeper than Cardiac Hill and the ride is longer with more total elevation change. On that ride I was assisted by another in the group much stronger and more capable than I, who during the steep portion of the assent literally pushed me by putting his hand in the middle of my back and pedaling for both of us thereby boosting me to the peak. Wow! And Thanks.

So stay tuned. I'll keep you posted. The Palace is mentioned in the following link (http://www.tagaytay.com/what2do.htm).

I didn't strike out like Casey taking the joy out of Mudville, but after the triumphant 4.5 miles I did get dumped while on the Liliput Tail portion of the ride resulting in a bloody knee (again), twisting my knee (the bloody one) so it's double sore, and landing hard on my back. But thanks to my Camelbak Lobo hydration pack and helmet only minor discomfort resulted.