I plug in the headphones and I’m off, go team!
Mile One
I feel good.
I break throught the first twenty minutes and get into a rhythm, slowly leaving the ocean behind.
My support vehicle, Ryan on his Honda Rebel, has decided to tag along for the entire journey.
The approach is done and now the true climb begins.
I try not to think about the twenty two miles left.
I still feel strong but the first fifteen miles has me sweating and legs feeling it.
Here the switchbacks tighten and my first real battle against fatuige begins.
My speed slows and I have to take a break, surprised at the effect of the altitude.
I can’t seem to eat enough mini snickers or drink enough water.
Up above the clouds soar up and over the rim of the volcano.
The summit crater looks tantelizingly close but still 12 miles away.
At 8000′ the clouds roil and churn.
Final push, here we go.
Mile 30
I’m talking to dead relatives now.
I cycle through happy thoughts to get just one more peddle.
Cheeseburgers, milkshakes, powder skiing all are temporary cures for the pain.
I crawl upward through the clouds whipping over the summit and down into the lee side of the volcano.
The tempeature has cooled and the breeze is welcome.
I hate my bike with a absurd ferocity at this point.
I feel like a bear at the circus riding the little bike around the ring.
Get me off this thing.
Mile 37
Hit the wall harder than I ever had in my life.
Nothing left at all.
Voices fade in and out, Ryans, tourists.
I feel like dog poo.
Sat up finally and realized that the summit was another five hundred feet up another half mile.
I look at Ryan and shake my head.
He laughs and nods, knowing I have to finish the ride.
A nice lady from Breckenridge stops and lets me know she saw me on the way up.
I remember her, she mouthed the words your crazy as she went by.
She gives me two bannanas and wishes me luck.
Force myself to stand up and wander around the visitors center and listen to the ranger talk.
It is amazing and barren, a place not to be lost in.
Summit
I recover amazingly fast.
The bannanas help and my body seems to adjust to the altitude pretty quickly.
Compared to how bad I felt just a little while ago it is night and day.
I break no land speed records for the last half mile to the actual summit but I make it.
Ryan and I get the obligitory photos up top and turn around for the descent.
Kind of like hitting mushroom rock in EV.
Glad I did it, more glad I never have to do it again, but what a challenge.
I hit a hairpin too fast, laid on the breaks and Tokyo drifted towards the opposite gaurdrail.
I stop, reassess and proceed with a little extra caution toward the beaches and towns where I belong.
