Who thought this was a good idea.

I'm doing a little traveling for the next couple weeks, and I brought the bike with me. I scouted a course out on Google Maps and came up with the below "plan". The plan included a coffee shop (a must for any good bike ride), though it was starting to look like rain was coming when I got there, so I just grabbed a juice to go.

 Continuing on, it seemed like my rolling hill ride was going to be great. Just cruising around on well paved country roads in clean air. What a great day.

Then as I approached mile 44 of my 55 mile ride, I saw something like this:

Only it wasn't quite like this. The hill went the other way.  Since I was already on a smaller hill and wasn't moving very fast I had plenty of time to stare at it and fully comprehend what it meant. I really tried to figure out how it might POSSIBLY mean a 14% decline. (That is, am I seeing this photo on the right? No, I was not.)

A very unexpected 14% grade for 0.75 miles. Ow.


Maybe I'll do it again. Who knows.. my brain isn't that bright anyway.

For those who care, the Garmin stats are here for your enjoyment.