Death Ride Part I - Pre-Event Training

Well, it's been over a year since my last blog entry. You can blame Facebook for that. I've got a little more to say this time, so a return to the blog seemed appropriate.

Christine and I just returned last night from my latest cycling adventure. Saturday was a big day in the saddle for me. I participated in the Death Ride.












The DR, also known as the Tour of the California Alps, is a pretty epic road bike ride with an embarrassingly pretentious name. On paper it is 129 miles, with over 15,000 feet of climbing over 5 mountain passes. In real life, it is every bit of that and more. It is a beautiful, glorious test of skill and character.

Those that know me or have been following my Facebook posts, know that I have been training very hard in preparation for this event. For a variety of reasons, I started training late and had some significant ground to make up. I joined in with Team in Training's ACE (Altitude, Climbing, Endurance) team on one of their midseason training rides as a guest mentor, and got my ass handed to me barely able to complete the ride. I may not be the most skilled or accomplished cyclist, but I try to work hard. I firmly believe that if you put your time in and do the work, you can reach your highest goals. So I started on plan B, putting in long lonely solo hours on the bike, doing endless climbing repeats on local mountains until I felt that I could show my face again with the ACE team on the last few training rides. My performance improved significantly, but I still felt I was behind the curve consistently finishing last on every ride. Then I had a nasty crash on Soledad Mountain with a nice visit to the ER which slowed me down during the last crucial weeks of training. My coaches advised me to trust in my training and rest and recover, but I couldn't help feeling that I had to get one last long training ride in and pushed it a little bit. It went great so I started to get some confidence back. In hindsight, it wasn't necessary from a physical standpoint, but it was crucial from a mental standpoint. I had to get back on that horse to see how my body would react. Even with all that, I'm not going to lie to you, I went into event weekend more than a little worried.

More later.