Not sure why I titled it in French, but Les Mis popped into my mind.
The Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend every year is the Mountains of Misery ride outside of Blacksburg Virginia. It's become a big event, with 600 or so starters. Most ride 100 miles from the Newport Recreation Center over three "category 1" climbs, finishing at the Mountain Lakes Lodge -- the setting for the movie Dirty Dancing. Maybe 100 people choose the 200 kilometer option, which replaces one of the three climbs on the century with a long loop containing two others. (Category 1, by the way, is the top grade in a ranking system used to determine difficulty of climbs for bike racing. It literally means that a driver would need to shift his Peugot into first gear to make the climb.) Of the four climbs on the 200K, the first three are manageable. The fourth, which makes up the last three miles of the ride, breaks you. Some bring flip-flops intending to walk. I heard of one poor guy who was (literally) reduced to tears on the road. I have yet to make it without stepping off of my bike.
Yesterday was my third tour of the mountains around Blacksburg. It gets better every year.
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