The post looked like this:

Sounded awesome to me, and it didn’t disappoint. The day started off a little cool, with temps in the mid 30’s, but we’d start off by climbing the south side, warming up quickly as we ascended. The plan was made to climb as fast, or as slow as you wanted, with a stop at the lodge on top to regroup. The climb was nice and steady, with no real steep walls or kickers to put you into the red, and several spots where it even flattened out a bit. I clocked a tad over 12 miles from the school parking lot in Havana, to the main entrance to the lodge. The wind was whipping pretty good on top, causing the windchill to creep downward, but I headed to the restaurant in search of some coffee and to check out the view. I sat looking down on the valley below, cradling my coffee and enjoying the big bowl of chili that I found on the menu.

Everyone warmed up for a but, we took a picture with the valley below us, and headed out to ride down the north side towards Paris. It had warmed up a bit, so bombing the hill wasn’t that bad, and traffic was almost non existent. We regrouped at the bottom, and headed back up the north side, to see how this climb compared to the other. This climb didn’t take very long, and wasn’t nearly as twisty as the south. You could settle into a rhythm with your cadence, and spin up as quickly as you wanted. After another regrouping, it was time to fly down the south side. The climb itself is almost 8 miles, so the 20 minute descent was going to be a blast! I counted 4 cars on the way down, but we were descending into a headwind, this kept our speeds in check, causing no issues at all on the way down. We headed back to the parking lot for some birthday cake, and to reflect on our ride at Mt Magazine. We’re making plans to get back there soon, and give it another go during warmer temps.