Three Bears

Tim and I have been planning to go on the three bears ride with George for the past week now. The map of the ride and a description is shown at this website if you're interested. We were supposed to go on this ride last Thursday, but plans got changed and we ended up going today. The three bears ride is a really popular loop in the area that goes over the hills, around in the valley, over three hills (mama bear, baby bear, and papa bear), then back over the first hill again. It's something like a 36 mile loop with 4500 feet of climbing..but don't quote me on that because I'm really not sure. I've been riding without a computer on my bike for the past six or seven months because I feel like it allows me to appreciate the ride more when I'm not counting mileage or constantly wondering how fast I'm going. I think I'm going to put the computer back on soon because it will provide a nice idea of how I'm getting into better shape. I've ridden without it so long that I think I'll be able to have it around without becoming obsessive about speed or distance.

The cycling out here is a lot different than any other place I've lived. CT was full of endless hills, but nothing too long or extreme. NY was pretty flat, with a few hills if you knew where to find them. When I visited Tim in DE, he always took me out for rides with wonderful swirly, hilly roads full of trees and flowers. PA seemed pretty flat, with some long rolling hills in there. Out here, it seems like you have a choice whether you want to bike on a completely flat surface for miles and miles, or bike up, up, up, winding your way up a mountain, and then down the other side.

I was a little nervous because even if I do bike to work frequently, the bike to work is FLAT. The biggest hill is a bridge by IKEA with an elevation change that is probably somewhere around 30 vertical feet. I shouldn't have been worried, though, because I think I have a lot more endurance than I've ever had before. I don't bike fast, but I can bike forever and ever and then I'll bike a little more. Tim was superhuman as usual and didn't seem tired after the ride. I'm pretty sure the atoms he is built from are bonded in a new, unheard of lattice structure that somehow violates every known rule of physics and quantum electrodynamics. Deep down, I know this isn't true because I have seen him reduced to a tired wreck before. It was long, long, long after I became a tired wreck, but he still ended up as a tired wreck. I was impressed with George, too, because this was his first long ride with lots of climbing. He got tired at the end, but he did really well, and pushed through. The ride ended up being a lot of fun because I got to see cows, and I really love cows. They are so silly and curious. The ride was also kind of funny because it's named for the three hills in the middle of the ride. The first hill is the medium sized hill, and is named Mama Bear. The second hill is a small climb, and is thus named Baby Bear. The last hill is the biggest of the three and thus named Papa Bear. After we climbed the first hill/mountain/whatever it is, we went on a long downhill and then ended up at the base of the mama bear climb. We climbed mama bear, breezed down a small downhill and up another small climb. Tim and I assumed that this small climb was mama bear's finale. We started climbing the next hill and I was thinking the whole way that if this was baby bear, papa bear was going to be a monster climb. When we got to the top of "baby bear," we were informed that it was actually papa bear! The little hump we climbed after mama bear had been the baby bear climb. I think the ride should be more properly named into something like "pregnanat mama and papa bear ride" or "hunchback mama and papa bear ride" or something along those lines because "baby bear" really isn't a climb at all. All in all, it was a fun ride, and some parts of the ride had a really nice view. I will ride the loop again with my camera so I can take snapshots for you.