I rode up Mt. Magazine with some friends and members of the Arkansas Bicycle Club. Jim, the club president scheduled the ride. There were 7 of us that made the ride. Some folks spent the night on the mountain at the Lodge. They rode down the mountain the next morning and rode back up with the rest of us. I drove from home, which took about an hour and 45 minutes. We started up the mountain at 10:30.
It was a beautiful day for a ride. The temperature was in the 80’s and got cooler as we rode higher up the mountain and was in the 70’s before we reached the top.
We parked at Havana, a small town at the foot of the mountain in Yell County. The mountain is visible from quite a distance before Havana.
The road up the mountain is a paved two-lane road but is pretty rough in places, although I was thankful there were very few big pot holes. Everyone rode at their own speed, which meant that we all rode most of the way alone. Jim stopped and waited for me a couple of times, which gave me a reason to stop and rest.
The road went through the woods. Only after I got near the top could I see anything below. The view, although not very open, granted me encouragement because I knew the top would not be very far away.
After about 8 miles I reached the overlook. Jim waited for me there, and I took some pictures and rested a few minutes. We rode to the Lodge together. It was another 4 miles to the Lodge. There were some more hills to climb, but the worst part was over.
We had lunch at the Lodge at the top of the mountain. It’s a gorgeous place; Ann and I stayed there once. The rooms are very nice, though expensive.
After lunch, Ted and I rode down the mountain together. It took over 45 minutes to get down. We averaged about 16 miles per hour. We could have gone a lot faster, of course, but we braked a lot and arrived safely.
It was a difficult ride for me to say the least. It took me over 2 hours to cover the 12 miles to the Lodge. I stopped 3 times to rest for a couple of minutes. I was exhausted and sort of hurt all over by the time I finished.
I measured stuff and recorded data about the ride. I broke the data into 2 parts—the ride up and the ride down. During the ride up, my heart rate averaged 145 beats/minute. I’ve never recorded my average heart rate that high before. My maximum heart rate during the ride up was 159, and that’s about as high as it ever gets. Basically, my heart rate was at almost 90% of my maximum rate for 2 hours while riding up the mountain. That’s enough to make any old man tired. The average speed going up the mountain was about 6 mph. However, much of the time my speed was 4 or below, which is the speed necessary to keep the bike upright.
I rode up the mountain one other time. I remember that it was a hard ride but not nearly as hard as yesterday. Reasons for the ride being harder now is that at 75 years old, I’m 7 years older and 17 pounds heavier than when I rode it the first time. I can’t get any younger, but I hope to lose some weight if I ever decide to ride up the mountain again.
