The highland is a 100 mile bike ride having 11,000 feet of climbing some climbs reaching 28% grades. Not for the weak of heart. This would be my first century ride. Charlie came up the night before and we drove down to Bristol mountain for the start of the ride. This was a tour and not a race so we could take it kind of easy, but with Charlie leading nothing is easy. I saw Jason and Jeremy getting ready in the parking lot before the ride.

The start of the ride was a little chilly and wet. As I thought Charlie took off out of the parking lot and we were already moving at a pace that would kill me if I tried to ride. On the first climb I dropped back and let Charlie do his own thing. We ended up with a group of four and this worked out pretty good. We would all meet up at the aid stations and generally start each section together until the first climb, then we all went at our own pace.

The start of the highlander started with Mosher hill and then soon got to Miller hill and at mile 30 came Bobble hill road. Bobble hill is a name that brings terror to those that have seen it, it is so steep that at one point it goes right past the sun. At the very top as I am huffing and puffin away there is a man playing the bag pipes and a cemetery, I wanted to lay down in the cemetery, but no keep moving. A quarter mile later we start the climb up Gannet Hill. Gannet hits about 18% grade and climbs for over 2 miles, it is the highest point in the area. After conquering Bobble Gannet kicks you in the gut as wrench to the top. At the top of the hill (finally) there is a rest area with the mountain bikers there as well. The mountain bikers say that their course is tough as well as the wet shale makes the terrain dangerous.

Onward we go through Naples and Italy and some other European sounding towns. Knowing that whenever a street sign read something –hill road we knew that was the way the tour would go. The climbs were not too bad after Gannet until mile 70 and Slider hill. This is nearly as steep as Bobble and near the top my quad cramped so bad that I had to put a foot down and rest. Due to the grade of the hill I decided to walk to the top. This one got me. My longest ride only being 70 miles to date, everything else was unknown.

After Slider we caught another group of riders that were struggling about as bad as I was. We ended up ridding together for most of the last 30 miles, cursing a wheezing up the remaining climbs. The post ride feast was great and was exactly what the Dr. ordered.