First Encounter with Hills
By
Rosemary Hollinger
Posted: 2020-05-01T16:15:00Z
We spent the winter in Utah in a condo perched on the foothills of the Wasatch mountain range. Our plan was to ski, but ski season ended abruptly, so I pivoted to cycling.
Biking in the foothills isn’t at all like riding in the Illinois flatlands, where a typical incline is the Northwest Highway off ramp at Dundee Road. There are mountains and altitude to deal with. I learned that quickly.
So, when I left our driveway, I only had two choices - flat was not one of them. For my first try, I chose down—9 minutes of cruising, no pedaling. I pulled up at the first traffic light. The path continued further down than I could see. Turning around and seeing if I could ride back up seemed be the prudent thing.
Now, to be clear, I had been skiing pretty aggressively on a daily basis for 3 months, so I was confident that I had adjusted to the altitude and was in good shape. Plus, in order to avoid the humiliation I had suffered last biking season, I'd been riding a stationary every couple of days to retain leg strength. So, I was pretty sure that I was in good condition to make it back uphill. And I did but just barely - 27 minutes and 3 rest stops later.
Last week, we relocated to Bainbridge Island, Washington, very close to sea level. It’s pretty hilly here, too, so the choice is still up or down. My first day out, I thought I would try an uphill. Then I did another and another and another. It turns out that biking is a lot easier when there’s more oxygen to rely on. The experts were right: some of us never fully acclimate to high altitudes. I guess I’m one of them.
The Utah foothills won—at least for now. For me, the challenge is to overcome the hills, and Bainbridge has lots of them. For the next couple of weeks, I’m going to write about my experiences learning to master the hills of Bainbridge Island.
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