Fun & Fitness over 50

To think I used to look at the ride up Orchard Hill Road with dread! That is before I even tried it.
Now I have made it part of my regular riding 2 times a week. Today I took a cue from riding buddy Charles and started out taking it real easy. I didn't even crack 160 bpm heart rate and never got out of breath. The first time I did it at Charles' urging, I saw my highest HR ever, 171bpm, about 97% of my calculated max.
I'd like to go back and try Copeland Hill Road which we did on Sunday but I started it out too fast so it was really a killer but I finished it.

But you know, most of this is really mental for me. I'm not saying there aren't physical limitations. There certainly are. And there are orders of magnitude greater climbs than what I've attempted (see June's Bicycling Magazine article The Toughest Climbs in America). But the biggest obstacle for me was wondering if I could do it. Wondering if I would blow up and hurt myself. Now that I've done these climbs, I have the confidence and that's 75% of it for me.

I'm ready for the next challenge. Charles says it's the dread Pinnacle Road!