Might as well be walking...

I've stopped at a roadside pullout to contemplate the mysteries of the universe, the errors of my ways and the progress I'm making... or lack of... I'm in 2nd gear at 50 cadence which gives me a blinding ascent speed of about 4 mph... the endorphins and enkelphins kicked in about 5 miles back and I've stopped about every half mile to stretch and massage the cramps out of my lower quads... which tells me I'm out of shape... too much computer time... but that's OK.. this is about the hardest day I will ever have on any tour... a 42 mile ascent followed by a 42 mile rocket ride down... we'll see how much further my legs can take me. I've got about 5 mi to the top.