Yesterday I made my third attempt of the summer to get up the the 2.75 mile climb of the App Gap. I have to ride uphill 3 miles just to get to the "starting point".

Here's what the elevation looks like from the starting point to the peak.

The first arrow is where I've bailed previously (twice). The second is about where I got to last night (2.5 miles). The yellow line is the peak. You can see that the last bit is a freaking wall.

I almost bailed at the same spot again last night but goaded myself to the next sign (50 ft away) then to the end of the guard rail (another 100 ft) and then to the picnic tables (another 200 ft). Then once I got past the picnic tables, it eased up again and I got all the way to the last wall, but there was just no way I could do the last little bit. Now that I realize that it gets easier past that first spot, I can definitely push myself through it again.

However, since I had started out hoping to just get past my last bail point and maybe to the picnic tables, I was surprised to get as far as I did. I wasn't the least bit disappointed not to get to the top because that wasn't my goal.

On the way up, I saw my neighbor, Joe, flying down on his bike. He does the gap ride all the time. It's not big deal at all for him. It's his little ride for when he doesn't have time to go out for a real ride.

One of the things that helped me was deciding to just go right up into my granny gear at the start - save my strength, not my gears.

Okay back to work.