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.

Training Log - 05/18 - 05/24

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: Big ring Tuesday on Fiesta Island. Very windy evening on the Island. Did the ole forgot to turn on the bike computer thing but the totals were right around 20 miles. Had a great group of 7 riders. I got there late again and met up with teammate Kathryn in the parking lot. We rushed out to the road and started our warm up lap. I think I see the rest of our group on the road up ahead so we speed up to try and catch them. The two of us average over 20 MPH into a headwind trying to catch them. Not them :(

We finally meet up with them and get in one sprint before we do the follow the leader game. DJ takes a turn leading us out steadily ramping up the speed. After one fast lap, he pulls off and I'm in the lead again. Round and round we go with a face full of wind. I do two laps pretty much as fast I can steadily go before I pull off gasping. Good time.

Wednesday: some small walking during lunch time.

Thursday: Two climbs up Soledad Mountain with Lisa and Natalie. We climb Soledad Mountain Road first and then do the Nautilus Street face. 15 miles, 1660 feet of climbing. Woo-hoo.

Friday: Rest day.

Saturday: Team Ride. 96 miles, 4100 feet of climb.

Sunday: only work out was doing 12-ounce curls at DJ's Summer Kick-off BBQ party.

Thursday Night Flight and Bike to Work Day

Been trying to get some extra miles in this week. Thursday was another night of climbing at Soledad Mountain. Met up with Lisa and Natalie at DeAnza cove for a couple of climbs before we lost daylight. First pass was the 3.5 miles long 800 foot grind up Mount Soledad road. Most of the route has a grade somewhere around 5-6% but it pitches up a to 9% for short sections. I felt much more comfortable this week than I did last week. Probably has something to do with all the climbing we did last Saturday. We stop at the top to catch our breath and enjoy the view. It's a little windy and the temperature has dropped at least 5 degrees. Having a sweaty jersey wasn't helping matters. Natalie decides to head home as she has already done some riding today and wants to save her "legs" for Saturdays long mileage.

Lisa and I chat with some other Team in Training alumi we meet at the top before we head back down for another pass. We decide to ride down Cardeno blvd. I've only ever done this ascent one other time. The last time was when I was training for the Tahoe last year. I remember it as being a very tough climb. The descent down is a lot of fun. Zero traffic and the road winds and rolls nicely. The last little bit drops down very quickly. We make the u-turn at the bottom of the hill and start the climb back up. Wow, this is steep! My bike computer says that this is an 11% grade. Nothing to it but to do it so I start humming and try to keep a steady cadence. We get past the big hump and then the rest of the road is a series of steadily rising rollers with nothing more than 4-5%. Back to the top of the mountain and than another speedy chilly decent back to our cars. Total are 1550 feet of climbing in 10.5 miles.

Today was bike to work day. I'm strongly in favor of cycling to work and would do it a lot more often if I could. I've got a 90 mile ride tomorrow and two repeats up Soledad Mountain took a bit of work but I still decide to ride. There were a few regular commuters with lots of first timers. I had to smile a little as I saw them struggling up the big pitch on Ruffin road crossing Aero drive. That was me a couple of years back. Today, I just flew up the hill. I've come a long way in the last couple of years of steady riding.

Mid-Week Training

It seems that I lost a little pep in my step during the two weeks off the bike during my vacation. Beside the world's slowest 1/2-marathon, my exercise during vacation was limited to walking between Barbecue Joints in Nashville. Didn't really feel like riding but with some big mile rides coming up over the next month and I knew that I had to get some miles in during the week.

Big Ring Tuesday was pretty good but climbing today at Mt Soledad was tough. Rode with Lisa Hill and did two repeats. It was pretty warm and I was huffing and puffing. Heat is my personal Kryptonite and just saps the strength out of me. Toughed it out on the uphills and screamed on the downhills to relieve a little stress. Got up to 41 MPH on the Nautilus St. downhill. Wheee!

Totals were 14 miles with right around 1600 feet of climbing.

New Cycle Season!

Well, I'm at it again. I'm going back to Tahoe for another crack at America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride (aka Tahoe Century Bike Ride)! I've signed up for another Team in Training cycle season but this time with a twist. This time I am a volunteer mentor and will be doing my part to shepherd our participants. I've been assigned to the B3 team which is advanced intermediate. We will be riding in the 15-18 mph range.

The season officially started a few weeks ago with the Bike Expo. No riding but the Coaches and the rest of the Mentor team put together a little show and tell for the participants. There were several stations including

Bike Spin demonstraton with pace line signals;
Nutrition
Clothing
Bike Fit

The bike fit is particularly important to new riders. A couple of the local bike shops sent a few volunteers to help out and by the end of the day, everyone's saddle, pedals, shoe cleats, handlebars, etc were in the correct place. Can't ride a hundred miles with your handlebars in the wrong place.

Week Two: We were rained out. This was a big bummer as everyone was so eager to get on the road.

Week Three: We go a lucky break in the weather and took the Team on a spin around Fiesta Island. We took a stab of breaking into groups and did about 20 miles around the Island and practiced, pace line skills and hand signals.

Week Four : Today! We hit the road for 26 miles. The group had swelled in size from 3 the week before up to 9 riders. We had some people move up from the group they tried last week, a couple of guest riders and some new recruits. The first real road day is always a pretty interesting. It is the first time that we all ride together and there is a pretty diverse level of riding experience in the group. The pace lines are always a little loose as people get used to riding in proximity to other riders.

I'm riding with Coach Tom, who is a veteran Coach of more than a dozen cycle programs. He's teaching me a lot and let's me practice my mentoring skills where I try to give people the benefit of my experience and dole out my not so secret riding tips.

The Team did great today. By the end of the day, the pace lines had tightened up and the average speed had dramatically increased. We got up to over 18 MPH on the last leg of the trip. Impressive for a first session with a new group. We rolled into the parking lot in a beautifully tight single-file pace line already looking like a real team on the first day.

Afterwards, a few of us (Jack, Lori and me) did some more riding for "extra credit". I'm planning on riding the GranFondo, a local century next Sunday and haven't had an opportunity to ride long lately due to too much work, foul weather and a bad case of the flu. I needed to do some longer miles today to even have a chance of being ready.

We rode up Soledad Mountain, which is one ugly little climb. At the top, Lori decided to head back and Jack and I continued onwards, mostly up the coast. By the time it was all said and done, we had completed 70 miles of riding to go along with over 4,000 of climbing. I was starting to tire at the end of it, but definitely felt I could have gone the extra 30 to make the "century". That is encouraging news and makes me feel better about next week.

All and all, This was a very positive day for me. It was also very positive for Coach Jack, as this is his longest ride since his nasty crash of last season that put him out of commission for around 6 months. He's got the heart and courage of a lion. Very inspiring.

Signing off...

Soledad Photos from Today

Here are some photos from the summit of Soledad Mountain. The first two are of me and the rest are some of my teammates.

The 4th Face

Thursday night means climbing Soledad Mountain. It was a very rough day after staying late at work last night and getting an very early start today to meet all my deadlines. My last of three meetings let out at around 3:30pm. I decided to take the afternoon off and make the early (5pm) group at Soledad. I usually can't get there until nearly 6pm and go out with the later group. One advantage of making the earlier time is that you have enough daylight to make a third climb. One disadvantage of the earlier time is that you have enough daylight to make a third climb. Life is confusing that way sometimes.

Lead rider was Coach DJ. Also along for the ride was fellow B3 Orrin and Tonya and my mentor Lisa from the B2 group. First climb was our standard Lamont to Soledad Mountain Road to La Jolla Scenic to the top. Not quite a walk in the park but I've been there done that. At the steep part of the climb, DJ calls for everyone to get into their climbing gears. I scoff and inform him that I haven't used my small ring in 5 weeks.
Pride comes before the fall.

At the top, DJ says we're going to try a new route. The group splits at this part and everyone else but me leaves to do the Nautilus face. We take off westward and then scream down La Jolla Mesa Drive aka The west Face aka La Jolla Mesa Drive. It's a blast doing the downhill. I get into the biker's tuck and look down at my bike computer. 42 MPH! Wow. At some point during the downhill, I start to feel a sense of dread creeping in. It's been nothing but downhill and you know what that means...all uphill on the way back. At the bottom we turn around and I almost strain my neck looking up at the slope I'm about to climb. DJ gives a little devilish grin and away we go. Grind, grind, grind and guess what?...I had to do the whole thing in my climbing gear. The main part of the climb is about 3 straight miles of what has to be 4-5% slope. Brutal.

I finally reach the top gasping for breath and get the high five from DJ. I inform him that if he makes me do a repeat of that face, I'm quitting the program. Laughter ensues. At the top, we meet up with the other group and everyone but Orrin decides to pack it in so Orrin, DJ and I tackle the next face.

Cardeno blvd. Mums the word, with DJ and we start down . It's a beautiful curving road past many gorgeous homes...and it's straight downhill again. Fooled me twice, shame on me as the saying goes. After jokingly complaining about the last climb, I was duped into making an even harder one. I can't really describe the climb back up but it's safe to say that it is the hardest one I've done in the program. I get some good climbing advice from DJ. He shows me a technique where I scoot all the way back on my seat and push forward, through my pedal stroke. It works a different muscle and provides relief from the quad torture I had been enduring. We reach the top with my legs on fire and my heart nearly bursting out of my chest.

Trial by fire, rite of passage or whatever you want to call it, I was damn proud of being able to do all these climbs right after another. I've come a long way in the few months that I've been training.

Coach DJ


















This man is a sadist

Solitude

Did repeats on Mt. Soledad again today. Only had time for two because traffic was BAD. I got to the DeAnza Cove parking lot just in time to join the last group heading out and up.

Same route as last week. First time up the hill along Mt. Soledad road I was feeling pretty blah. I hadn't slept well the night before so I was pretty tired. The route is basically all uphill and I ended up riding alone for almost the entire way. At the top, I tried very hard to talk myself out of doing a repeat but I just couldn't do it. A few others were going to squeeze in another climb and I bowed to peer pressure and joined them. I'm glad I did because we did Nautilus face again. The downhill is a screamer and I got up to 37 MPH. We regroup at the bottom and then make the long steady climb back up and then head back in.

The all uphill routes are tough for me because as a heavier rider, I get no breaks from hauling my butt up the hill. It's just grind, grind, stand and grind. I do much better on the routes that mix in a small bit of down to go with all that up as I can use my weight to my advantage and get some momentum going on the brief downhills that gives me a head start on the uphills.

It was a weird session for me as I ended up riding alone almost the entire way. Come to think about it, it's very appropriate for Mt. Soledad as Soledad means solitude in Spanish. Totals were 15.5 miles with 1680 feet of elevation.




















Worth the climb.

Two faces of Mount Soledad

My second mid-week ride was a blast. The team met up at DeAnza Cove for another trip up Mount Soledad. This week, Coach DJ was the ringleader and took us on his super secret route to dodge most of the traffic. We then navigated up Mount Soledad road and up La Jolla Scenic to the top following the same route as the week before.

It has become apparent that my seat position is still wrong. Arggh. I'm definitely too far forward again. At the top of the climb I get the tools out and make the adjustment. Ahhh, much better.

At the top we determine that we have just enough light left to make another run (aka repeat). DJ takes us on another route down the hill via Nautilus avenue. It is a very steep fast downhill. We go quickly from 840 ft at the top all the way down to the ocean in Point Loma. Want to get our money's worth, right? After dipping our toes in the water (not really) we turn around and make the very challenging climb back up. That's one mother of a hill, particulary the 1/2-mile where I have to get into a standing climb position to make it up. Whew.

At the top, we gather the horses and the head back to our cars. It's getting pretty dark and there is a decent amount of traffic so it's an adventure. At one of the stoplights, a guy walking along shouts out our rallying call "Go Team". He cheers us on and let's us know that he is a former member of the TnT cycle team and Tri Team. It's a real boost when someone notices us and gives us encouragement. Re-energized, we cruise the rest of the way back to our cars.

Totals are just a hair over 15 miles, 1680 feet of climbing and 100% of fun.

Weeknight Ride - Soledad Mountain

Thursday night spin class was canceled at the end of last week so this week about 10 of my team mates met up at De Anza Cove after work and did a 10-mile ride from the Bay up to the top of nearby Soledad Mountain. Here's the route.











The climb to the top is a very popular cycling route. There is a ride that some of the crazies on the ACE Team do called the Five Faces of Soledad where they go up the mountain via five different progressively more difficult routes one right after the other. I'm going to have to tackle that one of these days.

There is a long steady climb up to the top which was pretty rough in spots. The ride was very enjoyable. The view from the 822-foot peak of the surrounding area was incredible. Fellow B3 Teammate Liz and I were the first to the top and got to enjoy the gorgeous view of the surrounding areas. All of San Diego, particularly La Jolla, was visible. It was very clear so we were actually able to see all the way into Mexico. I'm going to try and remember to bring my camera next week to take some nice photos. Here is a virtual tour you can take if you are interested. Once you have it loaded, use your mouse to "grab" the screen and move it around to get different views.

We waited around for 15 minutes or so for some the others to arrive before heading back. It was starting to get dark and the weather was getting very cold and windy so we headed down for 5 miles of almost all downhill. Yee-haw.