Veni, Vidi, Vici......

That sums up Saturday's ride at Bear Mountain. This time we brought Wynn and Teresa with us to share in the suffering joy of multiple climbs up the hill. We picked them up early Saturday morning and after a small equipment failure on Wynn's bike, we were on our way.

We parked in the same area as last weekend and unpacked the bikes. With the four of us it was a full house in the Element.  We had 3 bikes on the rear rack, the roof cargo bin was full, and a bike in the back area of the Element. We took a quick warmup ride and went up the hill.

I never realized just how long the climb was in time. On Long Island, a climb may last 3-4 minutes but up here it can last 25-40 minutes depending how tired you are. We made quick work of the 1st two ascents and I'm proud to say I did not cry or sob once on the way down. We gathered around the Element to discuss our 3rd trip up. I have to say that was the most difficult ascent. Most of the ride up wasn't bad, but there are two small steep sections.

As I made the turn at the gate to begin the 2nd half of the climb, the Wingman was not behind me. I didn't wait as I was afraid to lose momentum so I continued up. By now I was learning the terrain of the climb and had a good feeling about where I was. the 2nd half is ~2 miles long but has many turns. It can be deceiving to know where you are in relation to the top. As I got closer, I suddenly could hear Wingman behind me. The hunt was on!! The pursuit to the top just got interesting. I remained calm, not wanting to burn any extra energy in the battle to the top. If I had to stand to accelerate I had to time it right so I wouldn't burn out too early. As we turned a corner I knew we had ~4/10ths of a mile to the top. Wingman thought that was the final turn. It wasn't, there was still another left, then right, then final short climb. He cried out "You've got to be kidding me!!!" and then dropped off my wheel. He rode hard up the previous 1.5 miles to catch me. He had nothing left to challenge me. I give him an A for effort in trying to overtake me.

Once at the top, we planned to ride down to the traffic circle and then just ride halfway up and stop at the gate. When all was said and done, we climbed 4500'. Not too shabby for a couple of flatlanders. Overall we made 3.5 trips up Bear Mountain. I think it's safe to say that we will be able to handle the climbing in Mallorca. The gearing on the bikes supplied by Trek are better for hills climbing than what we have now. We won't be speedy up the hills, but we will make it up there.

what a color coordinated crew.......