A couple weeks ago my friend Rich called to see if I wanted to ride from Florence up Hardscrabble Pass and over to Bishop’s Castle. Of course I wanted to. I knew I wasn’t in shape to do it but that didn’t matter.
I’ve ridden Hardscrabble Pass a few times. It’s a tough climb. I rode it as part of long rides when I was training for the 508 and RAAM. Those times I rode from my house instead of driving the 45 miles to Florence.
Rich choose last Sunday for the ride in hopes that the aspen leaves would be changed. The aspen seem a little slow changing this year. This coming weekend will probably better for the aspen but they were still pretty last weekend.
The ride from Florence to Wetmore is a deceptive climb. Although it doesn’t look like you’re climbing much, it climbs 1,100 feet in about 10.5 miles. After Wetmore the climbing begins in earnest and lasts for about 7 miles and 1,800 vertical to McKenzie Junction. The top of the pass is a couple miles farther but only climbs gradually.
Rich is a small guy and always seems fit whether he’s been riding much. He goes up hills with ease and is surprisingly fast for his size on the flats and downhills. His friend Lori also came along and she went up hill very well too.
Even if I had been feeling good, I would have been suffering up the climb but a cold a couple weeks before had turned into a nasty sinus infection. The doctor has me on strong antibiotics for 21 days. Between the infection and the antibiotics messing up my stomach, I’ve been really dragging. Last winter sinus rinses worked well to prevent sinus infections. This time I was already having trouble from all the pollen and dust from some remodeling. The cold on top of that was too much.
By the time I got to McKenzie Junction I was feeling pretty wiped out. If I had some flats to spin on, I might have recovered. Instead the climbing continues after turning left toward Bishop’s Castle.
Rich and Lori said they were also getting tired. They were probably just tired of waiting for me. We turned around a few miles after the turn after we had ridden 23 miles and climbed 3500 feet. Then it was a fun downhill back to the car.
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Sounds like a nice ride!
Did I say, I like that watch on the woman’s left hand (Lori?)..