Austin Hills

Tonight was the Tri Zones Peak Performance hill ride. I have been a little nervous about this one for awhile because I don't have a lot of experience on hills and steep downhills scare me. I know, everyone else thinks they're fun, but I just hate that out of control feeling. On Tuesday Coach Jen told me we were going to Stiener Ranch for the ride and that we'd be riding "the big hill". I had never even seen this hill, just heard about it, so Jeff and I drove out to look at it Wednesday night. It is really long and fairly steep, but after driving it, I felt like I could probably do it, maybe. When we got to Steiner Ranch, Coach Jen told us we would be doing repeats on the hill, yikes! I was prepared for once, but repeats! Going to the bottom of the hill the first time was scary, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I braked on the way down and was the last one to get to the bottom, but I'm ok with that. Going back up was really tough, but I made it. We got a short recovery after each time up the hill, then it was back down, still a little scary, but not terrible. I was afraid my legs would feel really tired going up the second time, but I think the second time was my best. The third was tough and my legs were definitely getting tired. Some people did 4 repeats, but I was happy with 3 since that is by far the biggest hill I have ever ridden! Coach Jen was super excited for me! She said "If you can ride that hill, you can ride any hill in Austin" I don't think that's quite true (Jester, Mt. Bonnell and a few others are longer and/or steeper), but it does make me feel confident enough to try riding 360 soon. I feel like I faced a challenge and really accomplished something tonight, what a great feeling! Thanks Coach Jen and Tri Zones, I couldn't have done it without your help and encouragement!