Susan Peak

 Susan Peak Road

June 13, 2017

San Angelo, Texas 

 I wanted to prepare for an upcoming tour in Illinois. Christine and I have ridden the Z Tour out of Princeton, Illinois once before and found that there is more to Illinois than flat corn fields. It has its share of hills also.

 So Christine, Brian, and I went on a training ride. Although we cannot match the scenery or humidity, we chose a route that would provide us with hills matching most tours--6 to14%.

 If one starts at the Walling Pecan and Susan Peak intersection, one finds that Susan Peak provides a very interesting 18 miles out before it is gated off from further traffic.

  Occasionally, there are flat stretches and downhills that allow one to rest up for the next hill. 

 The rock quarry off to the right marks the beginning of the most "interesting" part of the ride.

 The road curves up cresting at about 11%.

 Then the road goes up again into a 14% grade. Once again, the camera just cannot capture the drama of a hill.

 But after the climb, we get to go downhill for a respectable distance. 

 Then more rollers. 

 This long stretch alerts one that the end is coming up soon. 

 The same stretch of road? No, at the peak of the above photo, the road once again goes into a long lane.  

 The end of the 18 mile ride. After the first out and back, Christine decided 36 miles were enough. Brian decided to do a loop similar to our routine Wednesday ride, so the next out-and-back was by myself.

I took this at the end of the road on my second out and back. I had 55.25 miles so the 18 back would make me 73 miles. I decided that when I got back to the car I would go 2 more miles making the ride 75 miles which is longer than the upcoming Illinois ride. And could I make it? Hard to see, but my control panel indicated that I could go 24 more miles at "Normal" power and at the same speed that I had been going. I love my bike!