Today was our double mountain pass training ride -- and we planned to park at Greenwater and ride Cayuse up, down and back up again. The way we came back up Cayuse is the last pass for RAMROD so we wanted to have a good idea of what it would be like.

The ride up Cayuse was good -- Ruth took it at a pace slightly faster than my comfort zone but I hung in there and did not let her drop me. Then we had the descent down the other side where I lost sight of her. I tend to get nervous Nellie when descending especially if there are turns and if the road is a little rough. It was very rough in the rock slide area -- and down to one lane. I was quite unhappy that she had gone through that area without me as it would have felt much safer to have the two of us battling the cars for space.

So there was a lot of silence back up Cayuse but it did not make much of a difference because she rode it faster than I. I decided to not try to keep up and just make it my ride -- with the goal of keeping my cadence at 60. It was HOT HOT HOT and I HATE HOT. My HR was 148 climbing it. One thing I learned today is that Cliff Shot Blocks are my new favorite training food.

At the top of Cayuse, I decided that we needed to ride to Chinook too because it was there :)

We finished the ride strong and the mountain flower she gave me at the top of Cayuse thawed things a bit and I decided to talk to her again :) We do rock after all.

78 Mile 3 Pass Ride @ 05:45:00
6700 Elevation

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Put in fewer hours this week -- tapering for Fat Salmon and my long run is not until Monday.