Hill v. Hill

For the longest time - I have focused my rides and training in what one would call their regular domain. Bascially, mine starts in my front driveway and extends out in about a 100 mile radius. My home is the hub and I complete spoked sorties into western Washington, centric to Seattle. This is a fancy way of saying - I'm bloody used to the "terroir" around here. Fer chrissakes, can I get a road without any trees on it? A ride here has only hints of big terrain,  hints of vast vistas, hints of any expansiveness. When I first moved to Seattle, I felt a bit claustrophobic since it felt like there was a lid of clouds on the city all the time. Gray, green, gray is what one sees, pedaling your bike around these parts. Gray road, lots of green trees and gray skies. Don't let me "mis-pedal" you - I love Seattle.

On my tour, in hind site, I felt like my mind blew out like a tubular tire on a searing hot summer day in Death Valley. The vastness, scale and magnitude of the ride and terrain east of the mountains, over my local Seattle "rideries" was mind blowing. Everything on the tour was expanded. Distances were longer, hills higher, winds bigger. Terrain seemed crueler, horizons farther and skies higher. Don't let me "mis-terrain" you - I loved it.

So, as you know, I'm back home and I've patched up the hole in my head. I went for a ride here in Seattle a couple days ago. My local hills and distances seemed absolutely puny compared to the tour. On one ride, I've ridden probably 50 times, the notorious "long" hill was over in the time it takes to put my kit on to suit up for a ride. Very different from the tour - where a long hill meant four hours of pain and riding.

Hill v. Hill