Thiswas my first real ride in the mountains. Last year`s Tour de Leavesdoesn`t really matter since I did the "light" version. Some friends and Ihad made a few half-handed attempts to get up to Saluda that didn`t workout. And this was no ordinary mountain ride. It is considered thetoughest of all the Mitchell tune-ups.Even though I had done some research, I actually did not recognize what toexpect other than it would be the most difficult ride of my life.
