Eagle Summits Hillview!!

I got up and over an ascent that I have feared ever since I started learning how to tame this Eagle.  Maybe four years ago, after having muscled through each pedal stroke to get my conventional Hi Wheel bike up to the top, I had felt like I was back to powerlifting. I mean it took so much  out of me, I felt like I was still in the gym doing monster dead lifts. While it did get easier, especially as my bikes improved, it was still a much to be respected uphill climb. Toward that end, I think most any lightweight fixie rider would feel challenged by Hillview, with the view ahead pictured at left and the view from the top at right below.

Well the Eagle went right up Hillview!!  It did quicken my breathing a little but I'd say I got up it three times as fast as when I beat the stuffing out of myself and my HiWheel not so very long ago. How exciting!! Yet another  breakthrough!! As far as hills, I guess the only one that is left to conquer is the Arastradero wall right by the freeway.

As a reward for today's victory, I gave myself an easy day of only 15 miles. From Hillview I crossed over Foothill Epwy and explored the hilly Los Altos neighborhoods between Foothill and I-280. On  my regular HiWheel this would have been a cruel exercise and it is why I have little ventured into this riding turf in the past. Today, I wasn't preparing my mind for either side of a hill, I was enjoying the beautiful homes and yards that make up this not so very far away part of where I live. I guess one could say that this is Breakthrough #2: On the Eagle, I can really explore without the fear of  ascending and descending !!  Yahooo!!

The only draw back for you the reader is the absence of photos. I can't take many when I am doing hill work. Maybe after the Ines Brunn exhibition, on 4/4, I'll have enough for a thin,  lightweight point and shoot camera with a few more mega pixels....

Of note, at least for me, is the fact that I successfully navigated the steep rounded curbs on the Los Alto Trail. I took 'em straight on with a healthy handful of brake! And I was up and down over them with no problem! I had been afraid to tackle them in this way, until today. 

I'm getting more and more ready! SF to Boston - only 47 days! 

btw: The strap holding my shoe together broke when I was putting it on. The fix? Note the toe strap in the photo  at the right!!

THX 4 all of U!!  

Route 

 

Note: This ride is not about me but it is a celebration of all the people who have helped me get back to wholeness physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. This as I stand on the shoulders of giants to enjoy the privilege of riding this bike, the only Eagle in active use west of the Mississippi ...