On 2018-04-22 14:04, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 9:57:29 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-04-22 09:05, jbeattie wrote:

[...]


... Actually, riding through the area years ago coming back from
Tahoe, one of the worst climbs was on HWY 49 near Coulterville.
https://i.pinimg.com/600x315/7a/56/6...e3487b6377.jpg


Long and totally exposed -- after lunch, on a fully loaded touring
bike. I wasn't into it.


I never was. Long climbs are something I have always dreaded and
just do them when I have to. I never understood people like one of
the guys I sometimes ride with. He participated in the Death Ride
several times and actually enjoyed it. When we rode together he'd
sometimes say "Oh, that is a nice climb!" while I'd rather turn on
some reggae on my MP3 player and get it over with. The other sound
I found helps with climbs is the chouff-chouff of a steam
locomotive which I also have on the player.

Why not just listen to the crickets or your tire on the pavement ...


Rear tire on pavement? vvvvt .. vvvvt .. vvvvt ... yeah, that'll be
really entertaining. Right up there with bottom bracket groans.


... or the thoughts in your head.


The only thought I have on steep climbs is "Are we there yet?" :-)


... Blaring music in the wilderness should be
a crime -- like littering.


It's not loud, I keep it down. Other cyclists only hear it when I pass
them or when they pass me, and then only when we are next to each other.
Some like it so much that we ride together a while.

Besides, the din of "regular" traffic drowns it out for others anyhow.

Music can be helpful in other ways but most city folk don't know. For
example, when the din of my MTB spooked a few calves and that spooked
part of a herd. I didn't want any of them to end up tangled in barbed
wire or get hurt otherwise. Since I can't sing I turned the MP3 player
to a nice calm African song, full volume. Sure enough they started
looking where that came from and calmed down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KNDdLmN1qA

Sometimes it even works with wild animals as well but I never tried it
with Van Halen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2M8Y6RFqps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERlf6XU9OD4


Climbing is as miserable as you make it -- but the scenery can be
spectacular, particularly in the Sierra. I've done the Death Ride a
few times and most of the same passes on tours, and I never found the
traffic to be that bad -- but that was years ago (and the roads are
closed for the Death Ride). I was riding with my wife, doing a loop
through Yosemite up to Tahoe and back, and at the top of Monitor
Pass, some guy in a truck pulled over and gave me two cold cans of
Coke. My wife was about five minutes back, and when she got to the
top, I wowed her by producing two cold cans of Coke. That's a
positive traffic memory. It was fortunate, too, because you're a
long way from any water.


That is a place where you definitely should carry a small vial of tiny
chlorine tablets so you can drink creek water without too much anxiety
about developing the runs a few hours later, or worse. Outdoor stores
sell them.


Climbing with my son today was miserable because I tried to keep him
in sight and then blew-up. You do not get faster with age.


The trick is to accept that as a fact of life and not try to keep up
with young riders.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/