Sunday, June 22, 2008

Let's get Vertical!

I think this is the hardest thing I've ever tried to do!

Yesterday's ride was called the Vertical Challenge, and for good reason - it incorporated the 2 toughest climbs from the Tour of California into a long, hard 110 mile ride with around 11,000 feet of climbing! However, as challenging as that ride was (read more about it below), that wasn't the hardest thing - nope, that was today's recovery ride. I started thinking about how hard it was going to be as I swung a tired, stiff, sore leg over my bike - ouch. Actually, after about 5 miles of easy spinning, the legs kind of relaxed and started feeling better. This recovery ride stuff really works! Even knowing that, it's hard to convince yourself to get on the bike when everything hurts the day after a tough ride.

The Vertical Challenge

So, yesterdays ride (you know, the one that created all the pain in my legs today) was a tough one - probably the toughest ride of the season. On the way to the ride, several of us hear a weather advisory on the radio - unseasonably HOT, with a strong recommendation to stay inside and avoid strenuous outside activity. Oops.

So, we started riding at 6:30, with a goal of summitting Mt. Hamilton (the toughest climb from the Tour of California this year) by Noon. We started with Mines Rd - a beautiful ride up a canyon heading south from Livermore. At this time of the morning, no traffic (or maybe that's just because the road doesn't actually go anywhere?), and the climbs were taken at an easy-going pace. I felt good all day. Starting easy turned out to be a great idea (thanks, coach).

The Mt. Hamilton climb was both tough and hot. The avg. grade on Mt. Hamilton is variously reported as 7.5% to 8.6%, but in any case it is much steeper than Mt. Diablo, and the climb is almost 6 miles long. The coach kept telling me to slow down and take it easy, but I really didn't have much choice - there was no way I was riding up that hill fast! Not in that heat. I was very happy to see the first observatory at the top of the climb. As we descended the other side, we started seeing a good old fashioned thunderstorm - but much bigger than I'm used to. Lots of lightning in the distance.

All that lightning had me thinking of Wayne and Garth singing along with Bohemian Rhapsody for some reason (Thunderbolts and Lightning, Very Very Frightening!) - it really is amazing what goes through your mind on these rides when you're kind of tired.


The other highlight was Sierra Road - another famous Bay Area climb. This one is not as long at just under 4 miles, but is even steeper - 10.5% grade on average! This goes up more than 1,800 feet in 3.7 miles. It's also not very subtle - you turn a corner, and there it is. Once again I felt fine the entire climb - a nice change. I kept expecting my back to protest, but it never did. During the climb, some clouds from that thunderstorm blew over and made it feel cooler - thank goodness. Still lots of lightning to the south (I found out later it started a couple of fires), but not close to us.

At the top we took a ride-group picture. Richard had decided to ride with a faster group, so I was left alone with the girls. Cooties!

At this point we still had something like 40 miles to go - no more enormous climbs, but it wasn't flat either (I don't think there are a lot of flat rides around here). I still felt really strong, and finished the day feeling as good as I ever have after such a tough ride. The training is working - and I'm starting feel good about the Death Ride itself.

Fund-raising - the end is near!

OK, Thursday the 26th is the end of the fundraising for this season. I'm still well short of my goal. This is for a great cause - please consider donating to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via my fund-raising website.

Friday, June 13, 2008

The Countdown!




Well here it is, less than a month from the Death Ride (and more than a month since my last post!) Time to start getting a little nervous. So, what have I been doing? Uhhh, riding my bike! Oh, you want to know where?!! We've done some great rides. We spent a day down on the peninsula, riding in and out of Big Basin, with some of the steepest climbs around. I've been up Mt. Diablo a few times (try 12, with 3 of those in one day this week). I've ridden around Morgan Territory again, and we went camping up near Markleeville so we could ride the actual passes. Of course, I have some pics and more descriptions below!

Big Basin 5/17

This is a great ride - one I didn't get to do last year. We were riding some truly remarkable roads out on the Pensinsula south of SF, getting all the way down close to Santa Cruz. Sadly, some of the area we rode is on fire right now - last I heard, they hadn't contained any of the fire near Bonny Doon, and had evacuated hundreds of people. It's a shame - some really beautiful coastal woodlands are there, with some magnificent redwoods.

This was one tough ride - especially since this was right after the Tour of the Unknown Coast. There are two notoriously tough climbs pretty early in the ride - Redwood Gulch and Jamison Creek. Both are steep - over 10%, with sections up to 20%. Both lead into another section of more climbing (but thankfully not as steep). Redwood Gulch comes first, soon after leaving the urban area around Silicon Valley. Steep, but since it's not that long and your legs are fresh, ultimately not too bad. This is followed by a several mile climb up Rte. 9, and then a super-fun descent into Big Basin, a beautiful state park with lots of spectacular scenery and redwoods.

Big Basin is a very descriptive name - and now we were down in the bottom of that basin. That's right - we had to climb out. That's where Jamison Creek comes in. The infamous "Billy Goat List" rates this as one of the hardest climbs in the Bay Area, with 1,500 feet of climbing in just 3 miles. Yup, it's steep. And 3 miles is a long time to be climbing something that steep. However, I took my time and actually felt pretty good at this point. After that was a rolling section along Empire Grade and another wonderful descent, this one through Bonny Doon all the way to the ocean. Spectacular, fast and fun.

Riding along the ocean we got the rather predictable headwind for about 10 miles. It was strong enough to slow us down, but not as bad as it has been on other rides. Then we rolled into the beautiful and wacky little town of Pescadero for lunch. At this point we were around 70 miles, and still had 2 climbs to go. The first, Pescadero, isn't that long and isn't that steep - but with tired legs, it sure felt tougher than I think any of us expected. After that was Alpine. This one is both long (more than 7 miles) and has some pretty steep sections - nothing like Redwood Gulch or Jamison Creek, but still steep enough to make you notice. At this point of a ride, there's nothing for it but to grind your way up that hill. After that was a final fast descent to our starting point - fun, and we were all pretty happy the climbing was over. 110 miles, 10,600 feet of climbing.

Weekends off - 5/24 and 5/31

I was suffering from a cold that had me coughing and dealing with a sinus infection. No team rides planned, so I took the weekend off and rode SAG for the Tahoe and Seattle to Portland Team in Training teams instead. The rest helped - I was mostly off the bike for more than a week, and it was what I needed.

I actually rode Mt. Diablo and Morgan Territory the following weekend, but it was a miserable day - I was slow and suffering all day long. A break from riding for a few more days got me over the worst of it.


Altitude Camp! 6/6 - 6/8

Camping is fun! Especially when you're camping with close to 30 friends all there for the same reason - to get some experience riding the passes from the Death Ride! Of course, I'm not a big camper - this was the 2nd time camping in my life! Still, tents are simple to pitch now, there are all kinds of mattress pads that make sleeping more comfortable, and we had the wonderful TnT SAG team providing dinner. My car was thoroughly over-packed - 3 of us, each with a bike (all fit on the roof rack) plus bags, coolers, spare wheels, etc. etc. etc.




We also had a potluck happy hour and the coaches walked us through strategy for maximizing our chance of finishing the event. Notice the spread to the left - who says you have to rough it when you are camping?!!









The riding was spectacular. There's nothing like the Sierras - and there was still snow along the sides of the road at the summits of the passes! The riding temps. were around 75 degrees, so I don't think it will be there much longer.







Ebbets is very scenic, with lots of tall pines and a beautiful lake 1 mile from the summit.











































Monitor feels entirely different (just 10 miles away), with almost no trees (none at all on the East side), and a much more wide open feel.











Riding in altitude is a bit different, but I think the difference is often overstated. It is dry, so we have to drink more. I didn't notice a huge difference with my heart rate and breathing, but some others who were complaining about it were pushing harder (probably because of sleeping on the ground, my back was bothering me all weekend - built in excuse!).



This was a great experience, especially since now we'll know the roads on event day. So what does that ride day look like? It looks like 129 miles with more than 15,000 feet of climbing.

Double click to see the full resolution version of any picture.





D-Peats

This is our nickname for when we do Mt. Diablo repeats. It's a sure sign that I'm much stronger than last year that I've been doing D-Peats for several weeks, although the most I'd done up to now was 2 1/2. Remember, this is a 10.5 mile, 3,200 foot climb - not so easy to go up, back down and then convince yourself to turn around and go right back up! Well, on Weds. our coaches figured we should do at least 3, with some aiming for 4 or even 5. I couldn't start first thing - I had a morning meeting I couldn't get out of. So, I started right after noon, and was very happy that I did 3 by 7pm. That meant that I'm getting faster (even though I really don't feel like I am) and have built the endurance to keep going at a healthy pace without blowing up. Big improvement from last year!

Don't forget the fund-raising!

OK, folks, the fund-raising deadline is upon us. June 26th is it. We've raised just under $2,500 so far, which is great! However, my goal was $5,000 - plus I've already ridden almost 4,000 miles. Remember you all were going to make sure I rode more than I wanted to, since I'd pledged to ride a mile for every $ donated? You've got some work to do!

Seriously, thanks for all the support - we're raising money for a great cause. And of course my fund-raising website is here.

JB