The town where I live is nestled in a valley between small mountains known as the Issaquah Alps. Squak Mountain is literally just a few blocks from my house and whenever I feel the need for a quick workout, a loop up and down Squak does the trick. At 2,024 feet it might not be much of a mountain, but it's a hell of a hill.
It's hard to capture a sense of grade in a photograph. In bike terms, you are looking at a granny gear grade.
The cross streets on Mountain Park Boulevard are named after other mountains. Mount Everest Lane is not the highest cross street, however.
Mount Kenya Drive is the highest point of the Mountain Park Boulevard/Sunset Way loop that I like to ride. When Jan Heine and I first designed the Issaquah Alps 100K for the Seattle Randonneurs, the ride ended at the Mount Kenya intersection on Mountain Park Boulevard. In recent years, the ride has ended more kindly, opting instead to finish at the downtown Issaquah Brew Pub.
The Upper Hillside Cemetery and the original Hillside Cemetery look out over the town.
Eddy Merckx used to advise that the best way to get faster & stronger wasn't to buy upgrades, it was to ride up grades. Squak Mountain is a good place to ride up grades.
3 hilly miles today.
Keep 'em rolling,
Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA
There is nothing in cycling so fun, IMO, as riding a grocery-loaded fixed gear of 70" or so up and down rolling hills of 1/2 mile inclines or more. The key is to stand and go sloooowly. I did 12 miles of this on Sat on my Riv road fixie with 27 lb of groceries, here in northern Rio Rancho, NM.
ReplyDeleteIt's not hills that are annoying, it's wind!