The final ride of my trip to the Berkshires culminated with a climb to the famous Bash Bish Falls in Massachusetts. According to the state park website: “Bash Bish Falls is located next to the 4,169 acre Mount Washington State Forest which offers 30miles of trails, including the South Taconic Trail and wilderness camping. They both adjoin New York's 5,000 acre Taconic State Park”.
The route called for us to climb from Taconic State Park on the New York side and descend the Massachusetts side. I was warned beforehand to conserve energy at the beginning of the climb because it became extremely steep at points. I wasn’t prepared for the fact that I would have trouble pedaling several times. The approach starts with a long steady 7-8% grade which crescendos to 18-20% before flattening at a parking lot, which is the rough mid-point of the climb. After some modest rollers, three vicious switchbacks arrived. The switchbacks claimed many victims as cyclists dismounted their bikes and begrudgingly trudged up the incline on foot.
When you attack a hill/climb for the first time, the most difficult thing to overcome isn’t the pavement currently under you, but the fear of what is to come. As I like to say, hills are 90% mental and the rest in your head. The fear of the unknown can have a overwhelming and powerful effect on your psyche. Many people broke down on the switchbacks but I held strong and attacked them on a diagonal akin to “ripping off a band-aid”. This was despite the fact that I literally had problems turning the cranks at some points, even standing. Turns out I have very aggressive gearing – most people had two lower gears than I did, which allowed them to turn their cranks more easily. I’ll definitely be purchasing a new cassette before next year’s trip.
Tomorrow, I’m resuming the early morning “A” training laps with Christy and his pals. I feel the pressure to make a good showing since I met most of the people this weekend. I’ll report back afterward.
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