Well they don't call it the 7 Hills of Kirkland because it is easy. This year I had the opportunity to do this ride. I must admit, I was a little intimidated about the ride since I had not done a lot of hill riding yet. The weather around here has not been so great, on 4 of my rides it rained. Of course, a little rain is no excuse but I dislike not having full brake capability in this somewhat hilly area I live in.
We started off in downtown Kirkland. After registering, I proceeded to the start where the first "Dan Henry" was marked on the road. Dan Henrys are the road markers that we follow during the ride. They are color circles that have arrows pointing you to where you are supposed to go. At the start line, I was lucky enough to see a group of 3 ladies. I introduced myself and asked them if I could join them. They were nice enough to let me. The first hill we hit was Market Hill and then second was Juanita Hill. These hills were not very hard, maybe it was because I had fresh legs though. However the next two hills #3 Seminary Hill and #4 Norway Hill were pretty tough. Long and windy they were. #5 was a nice hill climb on Kingsgate hill that was steady but not too bad. After our food break, we hit the infamous Windery Hill, holy smokes, I see what everyone was talking about, I had to go up on my saddle for that one 3 times. Luckily, this hill was staggered, so there were sections that were about 200 yards where you could recovery before hitting the next steep section. After that hill my left knee started to hurt a bit on the downstroke. The last hill was Rose Hill and I took that one slow and steady as my knee was starting to bother me more.
Right now, my knee feels alright. My hamstrings however are sore. The foam roller has been helping. I better rest up this week to recover.
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