Daily Archives: May 26, 2011

A taste of the Morgul-Bismark

Lunch time ride at the new LGS location. Great access to the Morgul-Bismark from the office now. Our building is on Simms – at the bottom of the hill that drops steeply from Hwy 128. There isn’t much (OK, any) warmup time before the climbing starts. And, it is not a gradual climb and it is long enough that you can’t jump out of the saddle and power up it either. But, once you get to the top, you can ride Hwy 128 along a ridge and it is awesome to look down on either side.

I tried, but I couldn’t ride past McCaslin Blvd. I had to drop down The Wall so I could climb back up. I debated all the way to the turn but then, when I got there, Scooter just took over and turned right. It was like turning your skis and heading down a blue or black run. Your speed just suddenly changes. We flew to the bottom of the first hill. I didn’t have any desire to continue down the hill. My goal was to ride The Wall. I bet it had been 20 years since I had ridden up it. My memories were still vivid though and I was anxious to see how it felt today. Sure, it looked steep — but it looked very doable. As I hoped, Scooter and I did not have any trouble with The Wall. It got my attention, but I welcomed the challenge.

Once back up on Hwy 128, I continued west and headed towards Hwy 93. I rode by time today, and at 33:33 I found myself at the top of the final descent to the intersection of Hwys 128 & 93. This is where I turned around and headed back. As I suspected, even with one climb going back, my total ride time was just under 52 minutes. Just about perfect for a lunch time ride. I’m pretty sure next time I can continue on down that final hill before turning around and make it back without missing any meetings!