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Talk is cheap... 2007 Hillier Than Thou Century |
By Jim Friel... reposted hoping he wouldn't mind. :)
I was riding with the Hammerheads on the Wednesday before the 2006 Hillier Century and after the ride told the lads that I couldn’t ride Hillier because I had a girls soccer game to coach that same day of the Century. One of my hardcore buds from the group said that that was fecked up because I had been working so hard all year. I explained to him that it could be worse and my bike mentor, for example, had terminal cancer.
The two days later at 2:15am on Friday morning my son calls home: “Dad, the car broke down.” “James, is that the same car you agreed on Tuesday and Wednesday that you weren’t going to move and I was coming up to Montclair State to check it out?” “Yeah, Dad, I’m really sorry.” I found out later that day that the engine had seized.
So I called my assistant coach to let him know that he was coaching. I miss about a game every two years and the girls have a better winning percentage when I am not there.
I showed up in Port Murray NJ at about 7:15 for an 8am start. Hillier is not your charity century. If you look on njbikemap.com near the town of Montana:
http://www.njbikemap.com/njmap/7-maps/belvider.pdf
you can see Fiddler’s Elbow, the steepest ride in NJ. This guy Eric read somewhere that it has a 38% grade. The cue sheet actually says that, too. Note the 638 vertical feet and the short distance.
That 2006 ride crystallized my commitment to cycling....
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