Whole Lotta Climbing Going On

A lot of climbing on today's bike club ride.  4,137 feet to be precise.  We did Clayton, Crothers, Whitman, Suncrest, and Sierra.  Here we are on Clayton.  Miss P. was able to join us today.  Yay!

There goes Dancer and Prancer.  Actually there were 5 of them on Crothers but I couldn't get my camera out of my pocket fast enough for a group shot.  A few minutes earlier, we were harassed, harassed I tell ya, by a lone deer who thought he was a bull.  I kid you not.  He stormed after us before deciding to give it up.  Certainly no Bambi.

Donny and another fella stuck with me, how sweet, as we climbed Whitman and Suncrest, neither pictured.  We came across The Boyfriend descending Suncrest.  He had never done Suncrest before so he biked beyond the turnaround point. Impressive since that involved more climbing!  I was waving at him but it took him awhile to figure out who the crazed chick on a bike was .... He definitely was enjoying all these climbs he had not done before. The photo is somewhere on Sierra.  Oh boy, I had to walk parts of Sierra.  I was pretty much spent.

Another shot of Sierra.

It seemed like an eternity but I finally got to the summit on Sierra and made my merry way to the other side for more stunning views.  Lots of cyclists out today enjoying the fine weather.

Aww, Alpaca somewhere on Sierra Road.  Lots of them hanging out in a field.  Boy, this was probably the most challenging ride I've done all season.  It was sweet to have Donny's company.  I was pleased to learn that The Boyfriend only had to wait 45 minutes for me to return to his car at the finish.  I'm pooped but pleased with today's outing.

Just the Stats:

35.42 miles
31.5 mph descending
8.7 mph avg
4 hr 4 min.