NO BRAKES

About a decade ago, my buddy Sam and I decided we didn't ride our bikes enough, and that we should try doing some distance tours. So, we jumped right in and rode from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco, CA. Our route was a little over 900 miles if my memory serves.

The highest point on the ride was Leggett Hill in California. The climb was hours of sweat, legs and lungs burning, followed by freezing cold as we reached the higher altitudes in the late summer eve.

The descent lasted longer than we expected too. And whereas we thought it would be relaxing, it ended up being one of the most stressful parts of our month on the road. Hair pins turns, a ridiculous steep grade, narrow roads with no shoulder and car traffic... we averaged 50+ mph on our fully loaded touring bikes -- 40 lbs of gear on each of us. The cyclometer maxed out at 70 mph, with everything rattling, brakes grinding metal on metal, everything going blurry from road friction. This Japanese video of a (supposed) Mt. Fuji descent gives you a pretty good idea of what it looked like.


But definitely not what it felt like.