More reasons to climb...

The other day on my blog I posted about my top 5 reasons for my preference of climbs over the flats. Well, this morning I decided I needed to hit the flats for a change and it didn't take long for the flat route to remind me of another big reason for climbing.

6. Stop signs / Stoplights - I hate it when you're on the flats, you get into a good rhythm, pedaling hard, heart rate is up, you're moving at 23 mph and just then you hit a stop sign or a stoplight and you're forced to brake, shift down, etc. At least with a stop sign you can quickly move through, but with the stoplights, sometimes you get stuck waiting for it to turn. And since you're usually riding on a less traveled back road, the light won't turn green for an eternity (arrrghh).

Here's a little trick I learned to speed up the light change on those stubborn lights that take forever to change. Pedal on over to the crosswalk and hit the button! I've done this the last couple of times on the stoplight at the intersection of busy HWY 92 and the road that goes up to Suncrest and within 2 seconds the light changes.

So back to my point. With a mountain climb, you never have to deal with these intersections. It's so much better.