Mount Shasta Summit Century

Another first! For me, this has been the year for lots of “firsts”. First time for the SW Calistoga Zodiac, SW Guerneville Zodiac, Anderson River Park Century, Bicycle Tour of Colorado, Mt. Evans climb, and now, the Shasta Summit Century. It’s a challenging 100 mile ride up the mountains surrounding Mt. Shasta City with a final 14 mile ascend up Mt Shasta to 7,730 feet during the hot part of the day. Total elevation gain for the century ride is 10,500 feet. If you are really feeling strong, you can do their Super Century which covered 138 miles with 16,500 feet of climbing. Two from our group of five, Geno and Clayton, completed the Super Century. Way to go!

My “congratulations” to everyone in our group, which also included Peter and Saxon, for doing what they did. Not many people could ever imagine a feat such as this. Unless you are physically gifted like the top competitive cyclist of the world, climbing uphill is hard work. For hours I watched riders slowly churning the pedals up Mt. Shasta, the last and longest climb of the day, with their gaze fixed on the road ahead and lost in their thoughts. At that point, it was all about determination and perseverance. Upon the road’s end below the majestic peaks of Mt. Shasta, I felt only satisfaction. What a great challenging ride! This was not something I was seeking to do, but once it was presented to me, I couldn’t pass it up.