Heartbreak Hill

It was my birthday, May 8, and I wanted to celebrate as every avid cyclist does, with a ride of near intolerable pain and ecstasy. In reality, one of the members of New Mexico Touring Society proposed riding up Heartbreak Hill as a workout for the Santa Fe century on May 16.

The Santa Fe century is a nationally recognized ride which is classified on the web site as medium difficult but is not for the faint of heart. The section that literally takes one's breath away is the section called heartbreak hill.

I had never ridden up Heartbreak Hill but I had heard the stories from other riders in the club. Tom Sullivan spoke of weaving through riders who got off the bike on the hill and walked it up. Young people asked him how he was able to do this feat and his reply was "You have to be at least 63 years old (his age at the time)". Flatlanders who came from sea level convinced they were in shape had sad awakenings.

There was a small but determined group of seven of us at the library branch in Tijeras, NM. May in Albuquerque is normally an excellent time for outdoor activities. However, in the mountains, the first signs of Spring are just arriving and winter still wants to keep a strangle hold on the weather.

Ole Man Winter had the day in hand. While Albuquerque had high temperatures approaching 80 degrees, it was high thirties in this village in the mountains. The wind was 12 mph from the east. We would travel north to Heartbreak but then turn east into the hill. Riding up an 18 percent grade with a 30 mph head wind at an altitude of 7,500 ft was a possibility.

We left Tijeras at 9:00 am. All of us were underdressed. Shortly after we started, one of our group of seven deserted us. The cold, not the mountain, did him in.

Northern New Mexico has four areas with different vegetation. The lowest is the desert with cactus, sparse grass and no trees. A desert area will have moister areas that have cottonwood trees and plant life attuned to low water needs.

At a elevation just below the alpine is an intermediate area of scrub juniper and pinion. The mountains themselves are covered by Ponderosa pines and spruce. Tijeras is in the moutains with the pine trees. But as we headed north along state road NM 14, we initially descended into the scrub juniper landscape.

The descent started after an initial ascent of 7 or 8 miles. At one point I realized a downhill speed of 37 mph. The speed is invigorating until one realizes that one must climb on the return.

I traveled with Ed Kjelgaard who was a Santa Fe century veteran. Ed consistently places at the top of the club mileage chart. Long daily rides seem to be his daily bread.

The east crosswind occasionally buffeted me and Ed as we proceeded north but the shrubs provided a wind block as well.

The soil along the side of the road was brick red, something I have not seen in other places.

The road that we traveled is called the Turquoise Trail presumably because the area was mined by the Pueblo Indians for that mineral. Their jewelry is indicative of their love for turquoise.

To the north of us were the former mining towns of Madrid and Cerrillos which are now artist communities and visiting magnets for tourists.

We would turn east before we reached either of those villages.

The picture to the left shows the first view of Heartbreak. Not that imposing perhaps.

The picture below shows me standing to the side of the road prior to the turn that starts the climb.

I read that for optimal climbing, one should stay in the saddle, and, if one does stand on the pedals, stay upright rather than bend over.

Above all, one must refrain from becoming anaerobic, out of breath, as this state accelerates a tiredness and then exhaustion.

I had this in mind as I started the climb. Even as my legs started burning, I stayed in the saddle. But as my legs weakened, I realized that if I got too slow, I would no longer be able to balance the bike. If I came to a stop, it was unlikely that I would be able to start again on the steep incline.

My response was to stand on the pedals. The upright position was not working as I, like most people, bend over for more efficient lung operation.

And, under such exertion, it was impossible not to get out of breath. In fact, my lungs were exploding after several hundred yards.

I decided that whoever wrote the text had never ridden at elevation and had never been in the Rocky Mountains.

So I continued standing on my pedals bent over to the point that my nose touched the handlebars until I could go no farther. I pulled to the side and put down a foot. I looked down the hill to see Ed zigzagging across the road not out of breath and not far behind me who had been going all out.

After catching my breath, I looked to resume. There was no other way to get going but to head perpendicular across the road and then zigzag like Ed was doing. The unfortunate thing about this movement is that one moves into the lane of traffic moving the other way. I was fortunate that the driver, who was coming down the mountain, saw me in time to stop.

When I finally came close to the top, I had sufficient energy left to go back to my bent-over-standing-on-the-pedals position and finish.

What did I learn from this? That I know nothing about really steep climbs. Also, that few, if any, of those who have written about climbing know about steep climbs. Yet a cyclist runs into such climbs often enough that he or she should have a strategy. That strategy will most likely vary with each person and even with the conditioning of a person at the time of the climb.

Ed and I made it to the top and rewarded ourselves by taking each other's pictures. The ride back to Tijeras was uneventful as we both most likely were reviewing our performances going up Heartbreak.

Our merry band of climbers regrouped at the Greenside Cafe in Cedar Crest NM, just a few miles from Tijeras where we enjoyed breakfast burritos.