The days are getting longer, holiday-season gorging is far behind us, and it’s time to get back in the saddle. Shake off the dust from muscles that haven’t been used in a while! Shed some of that winter padding! For cyclists, there’s no better way to inflict such pain on ourselves than the annual “Chilly Hilly,” Cascade Bike Club’s February ride around Bainbridge Island.
Saturday night I’d heard the beautifully masochistic opera Orpheus and Eurydice at Seattle Opera. Its strangely mingled music of pain and pleasure was playing in my mind during much of Sunday’s 33-mile ride, with its alleged 2,675 feet of elevation gain (imagine Queen Anne, stacked on top of itself nearly six times).
There are few pleasures greater than whizzing down one of Bainbridge’s empty 2-lane roads, the glimmering blue waters of Port Madison or Port Orchard beckoning at the bottom of the hill, the smell of fir and spruce in the cool breeze that’s wicking away your sweat and rustling the number-tags you’ve pinned to your jacket. Yet this precious pleasure is only bought with the great pain of climbing each of the island’s hills, a couple of which are long and steep enough to qualify for Tour de France ratings.
Of the thousands of cyclists who rode today, many resorted to walking their bikes up especially steep stretches. Some of us just shifted down to our “granny gears,” eliminated everything from our consciousness besides pedaling and gasping for breath, and hoped we didn’t smash into anybody. And yet, there’s an odd pleasure in the light-headedness you get when you crest one of those killer hills, the way I imagine nitrogen narcosis is probably kind of fun.
Despite my enthusiasm for it, I’m sure some of today’s less warmly-dressed riders (I had on three layers, plus thick all-purpose winter gloves) found the blast of wind when rushing downhill at 40 mph a bit uncomfortable. Pain or pleasure, take your pick; or maybe, experience both at the same time. Even the snow, which only dusted us for a few miles, was simultaneously beautiful and alarming.
If you’re on the fence about whether you should ride it someday, please don’t take seriously my whining about steep hills—nor that of the cyclist who exclaimed to me, as both of us (finally) got to the top of Hill Number 3, “That sucked!” It’s the Pacific Northwest, it’s hilly, get over it.
I was duly chastened, after the ride, when I met a Bainbridge Island resident who had ridden the 33-mile route that day—three times. And he didn’t even seem tired. (This man, one of Cascade Bike Club’s tireless volunteers, had first ridden the route at 5:30 am to make sure everything was clean and clear, since islanders who resent the ride have been known to attempt to sabotage it.)
A few memories of today’s adventure:
I gaurantee .83 had better chili! (as well as 2 kegs)