Bloomin' Metric 2007, CT

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live. --Mark Twain, "Taming the Bicycle"

Hills galore. 100k of ups and downs.

This has got to be one of my favorite rides. Beautiful tree-lined roads, minimal traffic, picturesque New England scenery and, of course, pain-inducing air-gasping stand-on-your-pedals rolling hills. Ahhhh, heaven and hell together once again.

I did the tour with three other friends in just over 5 hours, including 3 food stops (4.14.56 on my cyclometer of actual riding time). Pas mal, I'd say, although we certainly weren't racing like madmen to finish. Just an enjoyable pace to smell the roses but fly on the downhills (15 mph avg and 39 mph max recorded on the cyclometer).

At the registration area, they posted an elevation chart of the course, which I thought was a nice way to get a feel for the terrain. I sent an email to the organizers asking what software they used to create the chart as I'd like to do the same for my personal weekend bike routes.

'Til next year, ride on!