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A lot has changed since my last post, not the least of which is the Tour de France allowing women to compete on the same course as men, for the first time in 33 years. The exclusion of women from this world famous race, along with the lack of discussion in the mainstream sports arena around this topic, has chaffed this lady cyclist for a very long time. When I learned the exciting news, I decided to celebrate by coming out of blog retirement. Hurrah!!!
During pandemic-times, I gained a new appreciation for one-on-one rides and I crafted some new routes (a 25 miler and a 50 miler) that I have enjoyed doing over and over again with friends. I've also enjoyed a ton of camping, with an increased joy in the fact that my favorite hobbies (biking and camping) are "safe".
My little hill killerz idea really took off, much more than I ever dreamed. In 2020, I challenged folks to report all hillz they rode, which resulted in lots of great texts and social media communiques. In 2021, I redesigned the challenge to be more specific and also to benefit my own fitness. I invited participants to tell me where they live, then I'd ride to their hood and find a nice little hill for them. Their assignment was to ride their personal hill 5x in a row once a week for 5 weeks. I was absolutely flabbergasted when 155 (!!!) riders signed up.
Spending the year doing "hill hunts" had a big impact on my perspective: riding with an eye on the horizon, hunting for hills instead of avoiding them was a real game changer for me. There are hill killerz in every quadrant of Portland, along with one in Canby, a couple in Milwaukie, a couple in Beaverton and a couple in Vancouver. I am done finding hillz in that way for now, but there are lunch hill killz (5 repeats on the hill (SE 52nd & Flavel) every Tuesday in June, July & August from 12:30-1pm. There's also a hill killerz social ride that happens every third Tuesday during Pedalpaloozas. The social ride is 11 miles of ez hills, no one left behind, and ends at the start of the Foster Night Ride.
Come play bikes with us!
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