an occasional morning ritual

[rmd]

so, for those of you unfamiliar with boston roads, route 2 heading out of the cambridge area turns into a highway for a while. shortly after it becomes a highway, there's a big BIG long uphill stretch of road. i mean, trivial for a mountainous area, but significant for boston.

i first started driving that piece of road many years ago, i had a piece-of-shit pickup truck that couldn't accelerate very much or very well. by the time i got to the top of the uphill stretch of road, even if i started out at 55mph, the truck would be struggling along at maybe 30mph.

lately, to shake up my morning routine, i've started going to work by driving out route 2 and down 128. so i end up driving that hill. in my mini cooper S.

and so most days, at the bottom of the hill, i start accelerating. and i am still accelerating when i get to the top of the hill, because the mini can totally do that. it's a small thing, but it makes me happy every time i do it.

trivia: the other direction, going down that hill, at night, is my favorite scenic approach into the metro boston area.

Comments

[blackanvil.livejournal.com]

Heading into work, I go over the Appalachian Mountains, which would be considered hills in most parts of the West, but which has a couple of steep sections. In the Ranger, it was a constant downshift and floor-it to get up without losing too much speed, and if I had to slow for whatever reason, it was game over, just pull into the slow lane and try to keep it going.

In the Mini Cooper S, I can accelerate the whole way up the mountain, even in top gear. Whee!