Looking for a few tough climbs...

I've been getting deeper and deeper into the woods
in my effort to find harder and harder climbs
Anyone want to race?

I've been doing some nutty things this spring, things that would make most people cringe. It's all in the name of turning myself into a rider in the style of Leonardo Piepoli. 60 and 70 miles rides in which I'll complete three or four climbs up some of our steepest climbs. West Mountain, Lake Desolation, and Fox Hill Road have all become well acquainted with my rubber.

It all seems to be working out, as I've been killing it on the climbs on our regular Tuesday night rides, and earlier in the spring I even managed to drop the feather-weight Dante going up the hills. I felt great on the first climb at Bear Mountain, but never got to test myself, as I crashed out of the race. Similarly, I flew up the first few climbs at Battenkill-Roubaix, but was KO'd by a flat tire early in the race. Hopefully I'll get a chance to show off my climbing legs this weekend at the Balloon Festival Classic.

I've managed to achieve a near-optimal power-to-weight ratio, as I regularly tip the scales between 152 and 155 pounds. At six-foot-three, that makes mean lean and hungry. (Don't worry, I still eat a ton). But, I still want to improve my climbing. So, to that end, I went off today in search of some steeper hills. On some occasions, I'll hit the steep side of Corinth Mountain, which has ramps that I reckon are around 20%, and sometimes I'll ride the hellaciously steep upper pitch of Ormsbee Road, but both of those are short, and I needed something longer to really get my Pantani on.

So today, I tried two new things. First, I rode the steep section of Ormsbee Road. The road passes a mountain side farm, then ends in a small paved parking area. The road turns to dirt, passes through a gate posted with private property signs, and heads farther up the side of the mountain. Usually, when I ride that road, either alone or with others, we turn around at this point. Today, while I was climbing the paved section, a big semi-trailer passed me, and cruised straight on to the dirt section. Emboldened by the thought that if the truck could do it, I could it, I surged through the gate and onto the dirt.

The dirt reaches of this road was not incredibly steep, but it was loose and rocky, which made the going difficult. I continued up for what seemed like a really long time, until I started seeing some hunting cabins, of the type occupied by particularly unsavory, unemployed men. After one of these men gave me an evil look, I decided it was time to turn around. But that road kept going, seemingly for quite some time. Next time I'm going back with friends, and we'll follow the road all the way to the end.

Next on my plate was a road that I'd never ridden before, Plank Road. Plank Road is a fairly common name for roads in Saratoga County. The reason is thus: Saratoga Springs has always been known for its mineral waters, and for as long as those waters were desirable outside of the city, there has always been a need for bottles in which the water could be shipped elsewhere.

At one time, there was a glass bottle factory on the top of this particular massif. It was located there because of its proximity to the ore necessary to make the bottles. This was before roads were well-paved, and many of the bottles would break before they made it to the springs. There were various solutions thought up to this problem, including, laying -- you guessed it -- including laying down planks on particularly treacherous stretches of road. Many of those roads are now called plank roads, although I've yet to encounter any planks.

So, I'd never ridden plank road, and I wasn't sure if it was paved or not, but I was intrigued by it, because my road map of the county showed it connecting to Lake Desolation Road, which is one of my favorite climbs, and an even more fun decent, because of it's smooth pavement. So, when I found myself in the area this morning, I figured it was time for an investigation.

The "Dead End" signs at the bottom of the climb were not encouraging, but I continued up all the same. It was a fun climb, with lots of switchbacks, little dips, and steep ramps. I climbed for what felt like about 10 minutes, before reaching the point where the pavement ended. It wasn't nearly as close to Lake Desolations as I'd hoped, but the dirt road continued up, so I continued up with it. Much to my disappointment, the road soon ended in someone's driveway. I suppose maps can sometimes be misleading.

With only 40 miles under my wheels for the day, I headed back down into the valley, and did my usual three repeats up the standard Lake Desolation climb. That climb is getting a little boring, but at least I'd tried something new today.

On a completely unrelated side note relating to my post last week about Usher's song "Love in this club." I've just seen Usher perform the song live on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The choreography was predictably sexual in nature, as expected (and the dancers were well cast). But was shocking is that Usher was way, way off key. They guy was flat! And he can't dance. So what do people see in him? Whatever.