As promised, I’ve been working on hills over the past two weeks. Not as rigorous as some team members, but the last two I’ve ridden would give some cars a run for their money. Here’s a list of hills in Austin courtesy of Craig Rowland.

Last Friday, I met with the team at 7am to tackle Far West Blvd before my 8:30am IT lab meeting. I had never seen it before and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I wished I had brought my camera when we came upon a blinking yellow light above a large sign that read, “cars please downshift, large hills next mile.” I was nervous, shouldn’t we be taking caution lights more seriously? We went down the hill first and then turned around at the bottom. Then we charged the hill just before switching to a granny gear and grinding our way up.

Today was much the same, but the hill was steeper and longer…at least it felt longer. Redbud is a 6 on Craig’s scale, but I’m not sure he’s measuring the whole hill. Once we made it to the top, the view was worth it, the Austin skyline. The vegetation is much different West of the city than East…rather, there is vegetation West of the city.

My friends have been pointing out the changes in the way I speak about rides. The fact that I don’t feel a 20 mile ride is much of a workout is a huge change from my mindset two short months ago. I didn’t even realize it. I’ve been making car trips into bike trips and traveling with people that love it as much as I do. I feel comfortable learning about cancer, its causes, and treatments, and communicating these to the communities I meet, but confidence regarding my physical ability to make the trip is new.

The weatherpeople are predicting rain this weekend. Traveling down curving hills with my slick tires makes me nervous…so it’s probably the gym for me. But, I’ve just signed up for the Easter Hill Country Tour next Friday and Saturday. And I found out my bike will be ready when I get back!