Tag Archives: Hill Training

Triple Bypass Week, Wednesday – Bad News at the Bike Shop, and Our First Ride in the Mountains

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I’m used to waking up early in order to ride into work with time to cool off. My normal 05:00 CST wake-up time nearly came through for me, and I woke at 06:30 MST, and was unable to go back to sleep. So I got up and joined our host who was already up with coffee ready. It wasn’t long before my brother was up, and we started planning the week’s training. He was very concerned with not overdoing it, and fortifying ourselves with proper nutrition. I’ve been winging this whole thing from the start, so I continued that trend and just went with the flow. He been counting protein grams, and making sure to get the ride types of food at the right time during his preparation. I’ve been eating frozen pizzas and whatever else the GF puts in front of me. Granted, I’ve been eating *better*, but I’ve not been strict by even the least strict sense of the word “strict.” For the most part, I’ve been training like I ride… by the seat of the pants.

Elk Meadow to 10,000ft and back to Bergen Park

Off our hosts front porch.

So, we eat what he recommends, and hang out for a few hours catching up, chatting with our hosts, and generally enjoying the start of our vacation. At around 11 or so, we packed up the truck with our cycling gear (including our bikes), and son #2 drove us down to Bergen Park, where we hit a local bike shop and had a quick bite to eat before hitting the road. While at the bike shop, I had them true my wheels and check the rear derailleur as it felt a little off. As it turns out, the derailleur drop out is bent a little. I opt to ride it as is, and take them up on the offer to fix it overnight. Wheels trued up, Son #2, who I will refer to as “Matthew” (b/c that’s is name) dropped my brother and I off on Highway 103 just west of Bergen, and we set out. Our plan was to ride for about 30 minutes, and then do 15 second sprints followed by 15 second recovery or another 15 minutes before turning around. Things didn’t really work out that way. 30 minutes came, and we just felt like continuing the slow climb up, which, as it turns out, wasn’t nearly as hard as we thought it would be. We set a nice slow pace of around 7mph, and just rode… and rode… and rode. Bergen is at about 7,700ft, and we probably started at around 7,900ft. After an hour, we were just a couple hundred feet shy of 10,000, and decided it would be criminal to not hit that mark. 10,000ft arrived, none the worse for wear, and we turned around to reap our reward.

I can tell you with no qualms whatsoever that flying down a mountain at 35-45mph, taking the corners and curves tight on a bike built for racing is one of the singular joys in life. I won’t say it’s better than sex, but I will say it comes damn near. I really put my Torelli through the paces, learning it’s limits in ways Kansas is simply not equipped to offer. We were laughing the whole time, pushing ourselves more than we intended, but we couldn’t help it! The spirit grabbed hold and would not let go. And then came The Curve. I’d replaced my brakes pads a few weeks back with brake pads I thought would be better. Let’s just say I’m glad they proved inadequate on an inside curve where I would have gone into the cliff face, rather than off the side of the cliff. I didn’t actually hit the cliff face, but I did leave the road surface and was headed that way. Lesson learned, we continued our downhill run, perhaps a little more cautious, but having a blast all the same.

Aside from leaving the pavement once, I was incredibly pleased with how the Torelli performed. It was absolutely perfect, cornering on rails, and dipping lower than I ever thought it would, only to bounce back up for the straightaways like it was coming up off a trampoline. What a fantastic bike to have for those 45mph runs. The triple crank also came in damn handy. I don’t think I would have been able to make it without it. I probably could have used another cog on the low end, but I made do just fine.

Arriving back in Bergen Park, I drop the bike off at the shop to have them bend the drop out back into place, and we head back to the cabin, feeling very good about being able to finish the Triple Bypass. We made the climb up to 10,000ft quite easily, and had the time of our lives on the way down.

A few hours later the bike shop calls me back and tells me that not only is the drop out bent (easily fixed), but the rear derailleur is bent as well and one of the chain tensioner cogs is loose (fixable only with a replacement part). It still works, though, so I decide I’m not in the mood to spend $300, and tell them to adjust it as best they can, and I’ll replace it later. That disappointing call out of the way, my brother and I and Matthew (who you’ve already met) and Andrew (son #1) get back to playing Halo 2.

We’re nowhere near as good at Halo as we are at riding.

Bypass Preparation Week Continued

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I’m sorry Kansas. I didn’t mean to make you cry. You’re beautiful in your own right… and no matter what anyone says, bigger is not always better in the hills department. Be happy with what you have, and others will be happy with you too.

We got to the ride start after stopping off at a coffee shop for some coffee and swag and hung out in the parking lot waiting for the rest of the pack to show up. One guy drove up in a silver Carerra with a bike rack on top. What a sight that was. He got out, an old wizened fellow with silver hair, stocky of build and yet with the definition of one used to long ride in a bike saddle. I have to admit, we did make a little fun of the fact that he drove a Porche to a bike ride, and with a bike rack, no less. As it turns out, however, he’s the Team Evergreen club president. Who’d've thunk it?

At 12:55 they called everyone together. There were about 30 of us, and they gave the typical “thank you for showing up, ride safe and obey the law” speech. The club president mentioned the growth of the Triple Bypass over the years, saying that it far outstripped what the original organizers had in mind, and that it was one of, if not the premier one day ride in the nation.

All I know is that it’ll be a defining challenge for myself and my brother.

After the short speech, we were on our way. All in all, it was, in a word, tough. It was a lot more effort than either myself or my brother anticipated, and we’re hoping it didn’t set us back too much the day before the Big Ride tomorrow. I think he’s more worried than I am. I’m used to riding day after day after day. Him? Not so much.

Not only was today more physically taxing, it was more mentally taxing. I think the reason, at least in part, is that we didn’t know when the climbs would end. They were steeper, and we didn’t know how long they’d go. Tomorrow, though we’ll be climbing hard for miles upon miles, we know going into it that we’ll be climbing for miles upon miles. We can steel ourselves before the first pedal stroke, thus saving us any mental anguish that comes from asking the question “When will it end?!” We didn’t have that today. Additionally, we rode considerably harder and faster today just to stay with the pack. Wise? Maybe not. But it’s what cyclists do.

We spoke with a couple of the other guys that are riding tomorrow, and they mirrored our sentiment that the climbs today were more difficult than, at least, the climb up to Juniper, the first peak we’ll arrive at tomorrow.

All the same, it was another gorgeous ride in Colorado.

Bypass Preparation Week

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Just a quick post to let you know how things are going.

Had some problems with the bike, and had to drop some cash to get it up to par. Problems included a bent rear derailleur drop out, and insufficient braking power. The rear derailleur is bent, but not so bad that it doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work perfectly.

My brother and I got out yesterday and rode about 18 mile from 7,500ft to *just* over 10,000ft. We both felt fantastic.

We got out again today and rode from about 10,000ft to 12,000ft, and then back down to 7,500ft. We still feel fantastic. Up above the timberline, we were loving life.

So far, though we can still feel the effects of altitude are minimal.

In short, thus far, this place rocks! Our hosts are incredible, the riding has been going great, and it is absolutely gorgeous out here. Riding in Kansas when I get back is going to be boring.

Hell Week, Day One: No Edge

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I hit my long ride home last night. Not the standard long ride, but the hellishly hilly (at least for Kansas) long ride. It’s the last map there on my routes page, and is also up on mapmyride.com.

Unfortunately, in the chaos that yet remains my Monday morning routine, I left my Edge 705 at home, so I wasn’t able to record the ride. It felt a little like going commando, but without the fun.

The ride itself was a focused ride. I forced myself to pay attention to my cadence and heart rate. Since I didn’t know exactly what they were, I went by gut feel. Who knows how well I did, but I was pretty wasted when I got home. I’m not sure how much of that was effort and how much was not eating enough through the day. Around 20 miles, I was feeling a little beat, so I stopped to get a Gatorade. That brought me out of my funk, and I was able to head into the winds without much difficulty.

There were quite a few fellow cyclists out, but not a one of them was going my way.

This morning I opted for the standard ride in. The main reason was not being wasted and too sweaty by the time I got here. I’m going to pick up some fruit and pasta at lunch, and set myself up with a nice snack about an hour before I leave.

Prep Week for the TBP

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After a long weekend involving lots and lots of fun with the rest of my team in Omaha, NE, and some far less fun work unclogging and replacing the downstairs toilet, I’m back and ready to really kick it up a notch this week.

Over on my commute routes page, I’ve laid out the route I intend to take every day this week. ~35 miles home every day, today through Thursday, and nearly the same loop again on Friday. In the mornings I’m going to buck up and take my 15 mile route into work, going well out of my way out to Lackman before doubling back and heading back into Overland Park.

It is going to be an exhausting week, but it’s designed to break me down. Next week I’ll be in full recovery mode with little to no exercise while my body repairs itself for the Triple Bypass, by which time I’ll be the stronger for the effort I pour out this week.

I’ll probably be posting some pretty boring stuff this week. Dry accounts of how I’m feeling, how the rides went and the like. I want to be able to look back and see exactly where I was and how I felt about it.

I don’t expect much in the way of commuter or lawn mower racing posts this week, but you can always hope. ;)

All the Water during Sunday Training

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I think I drank all the water on my ride today. It wasn’t terribly hot out… mid 70′s or so, but I was just thirsty the whole time. Every chance I had, I refilled my bottle… probably 6 times in total. That was just the water bottle. The Accelerade bottle was topped off enough that the actual water to Accelerade ratio certainly dropped to near zero. It started off red, and ended up a pale pink.

Aside from the water, I really did try to maintain a relaxed pace. I was shooting for an average somewhere in the 14-16mpg range, and ended up at 16.9 over nearly 85 miles.

I’m pretty beat now. I would have been fine, but instead of taking a turn off Johnson Drive on Barker, I shot straight east to tackle the hills between Barker and Renner. Between those, and the hills on Renner between Johnson and Midland Drive, I was beat.

This was also the maiden voyage of both the triple crankset and the Edge 705. The triple cranks worked flawlessly. My buddy did a fantastic job. Never a missed switch, and perfect in that they maintained my high end, but dropped the low end to crazy easy. Unfortunately, he installed the brake brake pad holders (I’m really not sure what they’re called) backwards. Every time I applied the brakes, the wheel pulled the pads out of their mounting just a little bit, until they were almost all the way out and rubbing. Yours truly, genius that he is, didn’t think to grab his multi tool on the way out, so he had to call his fantastic GF to bring it to him. That made for a 30 minute break after 12 miles of riding. But I got the brakes flipped around, and everything was golden from there on.

The Edge 705 worked well also… for the most part. It froze up three times, forcing me to reset it. Fortunately, it kept the data, and I was able to pick up almost where I left off. My mileage is probably a little off, but not by much. I’m going to look into why it’s freezing up, but I bet the only fix is a firmware update… it currently has the most up date firmware available, so it’s a waiting game.

Summary: Fantastic ride. Great hills. Loving life.

Next week is a one way trip from my house to Bloomington Beach at Clinton Lake. That’s going to be another 85+ miler.

Sunday Training Route

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Here’s the route I plan on taking today. It’ll be my first long route with the 705. I’m looking forward to checking out the higher detailed mapping, as well as the allegedly extended battery life.

I plan on taking it slower, looking for saddle time, rather than a higher average. I don’t want to be beat by the time I get home. I learned a lesson while I was out with Reed and Randy. They took it a little slower than I typically do, and by the time Reed and I parted ways, I still felt very fresh. It was weird feeling energetic after having ridden 80 miles already. Weird in that “Oh! This feels great!” sort of way.

After a very difficult couple of weeks at work, and more to come, I just want to get out and ride and enjoy it, rather than push myself to exhaustion.

Also, this ride will catch me back up to Randy on bikejournal.com.

Map behind the cut

Taking a Peek Back at April

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Commuting to Work

Great month for commuting to work. I took three VPN days and two drive days, but other than that, I was steady. I rode my Kona even on the day I had to wear a suit and give an InfoSec presentation to the Board. To date, I’ve saved $165 by riding to work instead of driving. It’s not monumental, but it’s not bad, either.

Training

April was a much better month than either March or February, and slightly better than January, but I absolutely have no choice but to make May and June stellar. The highlight of April was tracing the Spring Classic ’08 route from my house. A good ride, that one, especially considering I did it the day after helping the GF’s parents move. I was tired, but I was determined.

Errands

None to speak of. Still sans chain, so we’ll see how May works out. Thing is, I don’t get out much for errand type things, and when I do, they’re typically pretty far away. Anymore, the GF has taken it upon herself to get a lot of errandy things done, and while she does like to ride, she’s not the dedicated masochist that I am.

Mileage Goals

Here’s where April really stands out. I had 499.83 miles (*just* shy of 500!), which was 121% of my goal for the month. I brought my overall deficit down from 225 at the end of March to 135 at the end of April. I still have some ground to make up from February, but with the increase in training, I expect to see that disappear in a few of weeks. My daily average of 25 miles was also much better than previous months.

Fitness

One thing I haven’t really looked at is the health benefits of all this riding. I know I feel better, am generally more awake and alert, as well as more assertive and steadfast in all things, but where’s the hard evidence that all this stuff is paying off? How do I know I’m actually doing myself any good?

Here’s one way… When I started, my average HR was sitting at around 164bpm, while my average speed was somewhere in the neighborhood of 15. At the end of April, my average HR has decreased to about 154bpm, while my average speed has increased to 17(ish). In the middle of that, my average cadence increased from 79 to 81. I’m faster at a higher RPM with less real effort. That’s solid.

I don’t know what my resting HR was at the beginning of the year, but right now it’s at around 58. Again… solid.

Memorable Moments

  • Tortuous hills on 135th right after leaving Olathe Lake on my Spring Classic Absentee ride.
  • Getting a flat on the way home from work. My first.
  • The first time I turned a simple commute into a leg busting hill fest, while at the same time going from 9 miles to 16.
  • Realizing that I wasn’t as tired after 16 hilly miles in April as I was after 7 flat miles in December.
  • New tires.

Weekend Riding – May 3rd and 4th

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Looks like the weather is going to hold this weekend… at least as of now. Aside from the requisite stiff wind symptomatic of Kansas residency, it should be a great couple of days for riding!

I plan on going out both days, once for a long ride (>= 80 miles), and again for a shorter ride (< = 40 miles). If I can pull about 120 miles out of the weekend, I'll be one happy camper!

For the shorter route, I'm thinking of taking off from my house and running my standard Renner/Johnson Drive loop. It's not very long, but it's got hill.

For the longer route, I'm debating a couple different routes... An out and back between Legends and Lawrence, or a repeat of the Spring Classic '08 route. Both are very nice routes, combining both distance with elevation gain. I think I like the Spring Classic '08 route a little better, but it's been quite a while since I rode the LL route. One downside to LL is that it saves two of the biggest, most grueling hills for the very end. I actually got off an walked for a little bit the last time I rode it with my brother. I was a bit heavier and far less spritely then, though. No walky walky this time. Another downside is that to keep it to 80ish miles, I need to drive to the starting point. I'm not ready for 110 on my own w/o support just yet, which is what would happen if I left from my driveway.

Another couple of weekends and I'll make a go of it. But not just yet. If I choose LL, I'll drive to Legends and go from there. Driving to the start is a pretty big mark against LL right now, but we'll see.

Maps behind the cut…