Iowa Hill

I've been wanting to get back out and ride Iowa Hill for a while now, since last time I rode it, we had quite the epic: when we started out in Auburn, it was sunny and about 70 degrees - perfect! The nice weather lasted until near the top of the climb, when it started to rain, and then hail, and then snow. The temperature dropped to about 40 degrees by the time we hit the descent - 10 miles at about 30 mph... not fun when you can't feel or move your hands (makes it hard to brake...) and you're shivering uncontrollably. All of us ended up with mild hypothermia.

So this time around, I was a bit nervous to see storm clouds on the horizon and a weather forecast calling for a 30% chance of rain, but we set off anyway, all of us carrying some extra clothing just in case. Along for the ride were my regular training buddies Juan and Ruth, as well as Beth, Larissa and Lisa.

Iowa Hill is a fantastic ride - we followed the World's Toughest Half race course out of Auburn up towards Colfax, and then enjoyed the fast, winding descent down to the north fork of the American River. I was test riding a Cervelo R3 from Wheelworks, and I couldn't have asked for a better test ride. The bike handled the curvy descent with aplomb, and once I got used to the incredibly powerful Dura-Ace 7900 brakes, I was really enjoying myself. I love descending, and I could definitely get myself into some trouble on this bike!

After the descent, the real "fun" begins - the first two miles of the climb out from the river are the toughest - 12-16% grades without any respite. After that, things level off quite a bit and it's just a gradual climb with occasional steeper sections. We regrouped in the little village of Iowa Hill and then continued climbing. When we hit the start of the descent at Foresthill Road, we got rained on a bit, but we all put on our warm clothes and it wasn't a problem - I was warm and toasty in my long-fingered glove, arm warmers and vest... The gradual downhill into Foresthill was a blast - cruising along at about 25-35 mph, doing some pacelining, and just enjoying the ride.

Before long we were back in Auburn where we refueled with delicious Ikeda's milkshakes. All in all, a fantastic, hypothermia-free day of riding!