274th ACTIVITY RECORDED WITH GARMIN EDGE 1000; ALSO RECORDED WITH GARMIN EDGE 705 AT https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2108274558. For detailed route, see https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26109250. MY FIRST (& LAST!) TIME UP NATE HARRISON RD. For my complete story about this ride, read on or see https://ridewithgps.com/trips/18409665 (it’s way too long for Garmin Connect’s 2,000 character limit at https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2110055838). Park/start/finish at Kit Carson Park in parking lot near hockey rink (see http://goo.gl/maps/GpLQP). JK alone on a real “Friday the 13th ride!” Nate Harrison Rd. seemed like the toughest single-pitched climb I’ve ever done, and this was one of my toughest rides ever. The day was utterly grueling & endlessly frustrating. At 5:17 a.m., Fern discovered an e-mail about a job interview today, so she texted to cancel our plan to ride up South Grade Rd. I decided to try Nate Harrison Rd. for the first time, but got a late start after preparing a new route & cue sheet, getting stuck in totally stopped commuter traffic on the transition from I-8 to I-15, and eventually getting to Kit Carson Park to roll out at 8:20 a.m. Then … Garmin LiveTrack would NOT connect after numerous tries, so I eventually had to use Glympse instead (prompting a warning about the probable need for an external charging device for my cell phone). Knowing that Nate Harrison Rd. had a reputation as a tough climb, I intended to avoid the earlier climb to Lake Wohlford, but before I got to the intersection of Lake Wohlford Rd. at Valley Pkwy./Valley Center Rd., there was considerable road widening construction in progress & absolutely no shoulder for cycling. Friday traffic was backed up as far as I could see. It would have been totally unsafe and inconsiderate to obstruct the endless line of single-file cars heading north, when I couldn’t see how far the k-railed construction zone went, so the new plan was to climb up Lake Wohlford Rd. (starting at mile 7.9; 9:15–9:30 a.m.; 723' total ascent; 10.3 Ave.). When I got to Lake Wohlford (10.4; 9:51–9:56; 1,482'; 9.0), I realized that Fern wouldn’t have been able to meet me there anyway (per our original plan), because the lake was closed to the public M-F from “the weekend after Labor Day until mid-December” (see https://www.escondido.org/lake-wohlford.aspx). No parking was allowed, but the gate was ajar & the pit toilet building was unlocked. From Lake Wohlford, I continued north, then rode west through Woods Valley, north through Valley Center, & down Cole Grade to Hwy. 76, then SE ¼ mile to turn NE onto Nate Harrison Grade Rd. (28.1; 11:20–11:48; 2,566'; 11.1). For about the first mile, the road starts at about 3-7% uphill grade & is paved; then, as the pavement deteriorates and ends, a simple homemade road sign says, “Take one turn at a time.” Good advice. Without noting all of the specific twists, turns, grades, & road surfaces along the way, the next 8+ miles were generally at about a 10-15% uphill grade (!), mostly hard-pack but with a top layer of several inches of silt/sand or loose rock (see https://goo.gl/maps/56beZ9Fy5AL2). Also of note, my Garmin recorded temperatures between 85°-105° (!) for the rest of the climb. Never having tried this climb (… nor having spoken with anyone who had), I initially had ambitions of getting up the grade without using my triple crank or walking the bike, neither of which turned out to be even remotely realistic goals. It was extremely hard to stay upright, with the rear wheel constantly sinking into the silt and spinning to a stop, or the front wheel jamming into loose rocks and jarringly stopping the bike. Because of the very steep pitches combined with the extremely slippery and soft/deep silt, it was almost impossible to get going every time the bike spun or jolted to a stop. Most of the trail was too narrow, too steep, and too soft/loose/rocky to try a “serpentine restart.” And, it was generally impossible to do a “standing restart,” because without my weight on the saddle, the rear wheel would just spin and instantly re-sink into the silt. So, every time I lost forward momentum, I had to walk the bike, slipping and sliding up the grade to a spot where I could gain a little traction and continue slightly farther until losing momentum again – and again … too many times to count. And another thing (!) … beginning about halfway up the 9.5-mile climb, gnats arrived in swarming clouds. I was moving slow enough for them to engulf me over and over again. In the sweltering heat, I was drenched in salty sweat and I was apparently the best available source of moisture and salt for all of the thousands of gnats in the region. They were so thick that I couldn’t see ahead as they covered my nose, eyes, ears, and glasses. Nor could I tolerate the noise of their buzzing as they explored both of my ears; nor could I tolerate the intense itching as they crawled all over my arms and legs. Because of the steep uphill grade and the constant slipping of my rear wheel in the silt/sand/loose rocks, I couldn’t take either of my hands off of the handlebars in order to wave off the gnats, so I’d stop, wave them off (while then watching them swarm just a few feet away from me), then try to start again and watch/hear/feel them engulf me again within seconds. Then I’d stop and repeat the process again – and again … too many times to count. This was all physically exhausting and infinitely frustrating. I lost track of how many times I conceded that this trail was just too tough for me and would be impossible for me to complete … and to concede that the constantly swarming clouds of gnats were driving me insane; but then I’d repeatedly consider just how difficult and dangerous it would probably be for me to turn around and try to keep control of the bike on such a steep, slippery, rocky downhill. I also realized that if I did make it back down the mountain safely, I might (ridiculously) be tempted to return some day to try it again, so I kept convincing myself to “try to climb one more switchback,” hoping that the steep grade might eventually flatten out and become more forgiving … which never seemed to happen until I got within about ½ mile from the top (still engulfed in a cloud of gnats from head to foot). After 3 hours and 20 minutes of what seemed like the toughest climb I’ve ever done, I got up to the paved road at the intersection of Doane Valley Rd., State Park Rd./Hwy. S7, and the trail to Boucher Hill Fire Lookout at (mile 37.6; 3:08 p.m. 6,700' total ascent; 7.8 mph cumulative average), and FINALLY got up to a speed high enough to kiss the gnats goodbye as I continued on to Mother’s Kitchen/Palomar Mtn. General Store for lunch (40.9; 3:32–4:16; 7,071'; 7.9). After all of that (note the 7,071' of ascent in 41 miles, the heat, and the budding relationship cultivated with all of my gnew gnat acquaintances), I was whipped. After lunch, I coasted down South Grade Rd. back to Hwy. 76, continued down to Cole Grade Rd. (55.9; 7,150'), and started the climb up from Old Cole Grade Rd. (57.0; 5:14; 7,173'; 9.7) to the top of the grade at Pauma Vista Dr. (59.2; 5:50; 8,043'; 9.3), then returned to Kit Carson Park via Valley Center to finish the ride (mile 77.4; 7:25 p.m.; 8,839' total ascent; 10.2 rolling average). All’s well that ends well, but I don’t ever intend to return to Nate Harrison Rd. … unless I’m in a car … with good traction and power.