5/20 - 23/09: Big Training Block

"Big" for me, at least. After three weeks of sub-par training due to some bronchial crap, I felt a ‘mini-Tour’ was just what was needed to get me back on track. The goal was to put in somewhere between 18-20 hours over 4 days, with a bunch of climbing thrown in for good measure. The PowerTap would serve as an invaluable tool, letting me know just how good my performance ended up being.

I had the luck and luxury of having Greg Ross join me the first 3 days and Ben Buxton join me for the last day, which made doing this much more palatable. Each day started and ended at my home in Lafayette.

Wed, May 20th
84 miles in 4:35. Magnolia to Eldora (this year’s Mike Horgan HC course on June 21st), then down to Nederland and over to Ward before descending to Hwy 36. Finished up by heading north to Nelson, east to 75th and home. This was one of those suck-ass days in the saddle. From the first pedal strokes, I knew the ride was going to be sub-par. Unfortunately, you don’t know just how much or little the extra suffering will be until you get into the ride. This ranked up there with the most challenging (not in a good way) rides I’ve done. Nearly a visceral experience. And it didn’t help that Lil’ Greg was riding away from me with a cup of tea in-hand. Not really, but he was definitely gliding up the climbs.

I couldn’t eat a thing for 3 hours afterwards, I was so messed up. I couldn’t imagine 3 more days of this shit. I guzzled water and literally force-fed myself the rest of the day until bedtime. What I DID realize is that I needed lube on my chain and rear cogs. The bike shop had cleaned my drive train a few days earlier, but for some reason there was undue friction. While not the entire cause of this lackluster ride, it certainly didn’t help any. I drenched the chain in lube and ran it through all the gears. I wasn’t going to allow myself any excuses tomorrow.

Thurs, May 21st
108 miles in 5:20. After the sleep of the dead, I woke up actually feeling refreshed. The legs were tired, but did not feel like cinder blocks. I had a spring in my step. Which is a good thing, because today was going to be the longest day of the bunch. I met Greg out front, but didn’t say a word about how I felt. I didn’t want to jinx anything before I even rolled out my driveway.

We headed straight out north to Hygiene, then hit Carter Lake, Big Thomson canyon to Estes. From there we descended to Lyons, back east to Hygiene and home. As we approached Hygiene on the way out, I told Greg my legs were definitely feeling more spry and I was ready for a hard ride. We pressed each other hard up Big Thomson, hitting a PR for the climb at 58:30. After refueling in Estes, we started the roughly 4-mile climb out of Estes before starting the gradual descent to Lyons. I hit a spot of trouble here and it was all I could do to stick to Greg’s back wheel on the 2 small rollers between mile markers 11 and 12 on the way down. By the time we hit Lyons, I felt strong again and powered it home the final hour-plus, attacking the rollers like the end of a race. The legs felt great and the watts were high for being 4.5+ hours into a ride.

Finished the day brimming with confidence and looking forward to the second half of the mini-Tour.

Fri, May 22nd
64 miles in 3:40. An easy/mod day, what would normally be considered junk miles. Watts were immaterial; the goal was to keep the HR aerobic. The watts would be what they would be. We hit Old Stage to Lefthand, then climbed to Ward before heading south to Nederland and down. The legs were a bit sore, but ‘had good sensations’ as the pros say. So, climbing was going to be OK today. I kept my HR below 150, even going up Old Stage. Greg had decided to race on Sunday, so I told him to push if he wanted to; I was going to stay aerobic.

We hit Ward in just under 2:10, which pegs the climb at about 1:10. I was surprised at how fast we got back to my house from Ward (just over 90min). The legs felt better after this ride than before it, another great sign and a perfect set-up for tomorrow. Ben and I had yet to decide where we would ride, but I knew I would throw everything I had left into it. After a dinner of mongo fats – bread with slabs of butter, guac and chips, and a burger with cheddar & bacon and fries on the side – my stomach protested the rest of the night. I decided against sticking my finger down my throat (seriously), hoping my stomach would settle and that the calories would do me some good come tomorrow morning. We were getting an early start at 6am, so no time for a pre-ride meal.

Sat, May 23rd
95 miles in 4:50. Woke up feeling fine. Dinner had been processed and I was pretty hungry upon awaking. The muscle glycogen was topped off, so I resisted the urge to eat (besides a gel right before taking off on the ride). As Ben and I rolled out of the neighborhood, we decided to hit Peaceful Valley. Ben had to be home around 10, so we agreed to split up on the descent since I was going to add some time on to the ride.

We hit Lyons then took the southern canyon up toward Allenspark, through Raymond and on to Peaceful Valley. Stringing these jogs together, the climb up to Peak to Peak Highway from Lyons is typically over an hour in length. My goal was to build into the climb, hit Peak to Peak above Peaceful Valley at max and keep going until I hit a solid hour to see how the body responded.

I felt incredible on the climb. At 30min, my HR was in the low-150s and I was averaging 265w. Time to turn the screws on myself. By the time I hit the hour mark, my average watts were up to 276 (so, 287w for the 2nd half of the effort). This was a new PR for a straight hour of output during a training ride, another great sign. I eased up for Ben to catch up and we continued on south toward Ward, where Ben descended while I continued on to Nederland before heading down.

The legs were feeling great, as was my entire body. I wanted to keep it going, so when I hit Boulder, I climbed up 9th Street to Baseline and turned west to climb Flagstaff. I made a deal with myself. If I averaged better than 276w up Flag, then I would turn around at the Amphitheatre turn-off; otherwise, the punishment would be to go all the way up – another 15min up the steepest sections of the climb. Not fun. Right away I knew there would be no punishment. I finished the climb in 15-flat, at 290w average. For me, a great effort at the tail end of the ride and at the tail end of the 4 days.

I descended Flag and cruised home, ready for the recovery period to follow and anticipating the resultant bump in fitness I would experience. Now that my health is back in order, the next climbing races should certainly be more fun to do.

Ride safe,
Nate

5/16/09: Sunshine Hill Climb

The Sunshine HC is a tough bastard of a course. The first 5 miles of paved road average about 7.6%, while the final 4 miles or so on the dirt are steeper still. Some gradients on the dirt top 20%. So if you blow your load too early, the second half of the race can be a real suffer fest.

I was less than 100% for the race this year, after catching some sort of bronchial virus after the Lookout HC a couple weeks earlier. While ‘over the hump’ of the sickness, I still felt as if I were sucking air through a straw anytime I tried to kick up my effort. And a hacking cough was my constant companion, waking me up more times in the night than a child who just had a nightmare. Still, I went into the race with the goal of pulling as much out of myself as I could even though I knew the results would be less than my best.

In the past, the race rolls off the start line and there is a gradual building into it. While the race lasts for roughly 45 minutes, no one wants to redline it too early. This year, however, the pace was pushed from the get-go. Within the first minute, I could tell my body was still sub-par. If 100%, I should have been able to push out 310-320w. In the 270 range, I was already bumping up against my max (I ended up averaging 285w for the race, so about 10% low). I slipped into reserve mode and rode at my own pace. It would net me whatever result it would, and there was little I could do about it.

A small pack powered by one of the Garmin junior riders sped up the road, leaving me to fend for myself in about 10th position. Considering I could hear a lot of gasping going on from that pack as it slipped away, I figured some of those riders would be faltering and sliding back to be picked off. Which is exactly what happened. Slowly but surely, as I grinded up the pitches, riders up the road started blowing apart.

Before the dirt section started, I caught Jason Anderson from the Natural Grocers squad. We formed a quick alliance and worked together to chase down the rest of the racers up the road. When we caught Lars Finanger from VeloNews, he was nice enough to inform us that the 2nd place rider was right around the next switchback. I thought, “I’m in the Top 5? Are you kiddng?” My legs sure didn’t feel like Top 5 legs. Finanger latched on as Anderson and I continued working to try to catch David Leonard (who ended up 2nd and whom we never did catch).

With 500m to go, I was cooked. Nothing left. I decided to spring early and see if maybe Anderson was worse off than I was. Finanger dropped immediately, but Anderson grabbed my wheel then shot past in the final 100m. A quick look over my shoulder proved I was safe in 4th place, so I shut it down and coasted across the line. Totally spend and gasping for air. And hacking up hairballs.

Next up is the Scott Kornfield Memorial circuit race on the 31st. This is my team’s race and has been renamed in memory of our fallen teammate, quite ironically on Memorial Day 2005. Back to 100% health, I’ll be looking forward to helping one of our sprinters win the day.

Ride safe,
Nate

5/2/09: Lookout Mountain Hill Climb

Lookout Mountain sits above the town of Golden, where Molson-Coors is headquartered. Not a particularly steep climb, it winds 4.5 miles to the top, where a turn-off can take you to Buffalo Bill’s gravesite. A roughly 20-minute hill climb’s a tricky race. A lot of racers think that they can gun it from the start given how short the race is, and race it like a flat-and-fast time trial. Big mistake. Gravity is a leg killer. Despite the shortness of the race, you gotta respect the upward tilt of the road.

My history with this race is love-hate. I love to climb but the race hates me. 3 years ago, poised to catch the lone leader with about 5 minutes left to race, some juniors who had already raced and were descending hit a switchback way too hot. Two of the riders came straight across the road; one of them slammed into me. Broke my glasses and my helmet, and sheered the fork of my bike clean off. The force of the impact caused a 4th degree separation of my left shoulder (effectively, it got ‘blown out’). 2 years ago, I missed the race because my wife graduated from her Masters program that same day. Last year, I got knocked down at the start line because somebody didn’t know how to clip into his pedals. Lost a good 30 seconds and wasted too much energy too early to get back in the race. Maybe this year would be a better experience; it really couldn’t get much worse.

The weather was cold, in the low-40s, overcast and quite foggy. At least the rain which was hitting Boulder and the towns to the northeast was completely missing Golden. Climbing in the rain or snow is OK; it’s descending in this crap which sucks and chills to the bone. The legs felt good warming up. Not sharp like they will in July, but strong enough. Podium legs but whether or not they were victory legs was TBD.

We started 10 minutes after the Pro/1/2 field went off. On the start line, some young kid was yammering on. Pretty damn nervous, was all I could think. The race starts and there’s a quick 15-yard runway before the road takes a switchback to the right and the climbing begins in earnest. It’s not really important to hit that turn in the lead, but you also don’t want to be caught in a cluster fuck as the road narrows. I hit the bend in the first 3 riders, then settled in to a sensible rhythm. Almost immediately, 2 guys came blowing by and shot into the lead. The move looked premeditated and like they were friends wanting to work together. Somewhat ironically, the Metallica song ‘Cyanide’ was running through my head and I had just sung the part of the chorus which went “Suicide, I’ve already died. It’s just the funeral I’ve been waiting for.” Very apropos for the 2 riders on the suicide mission.

Panic sets in to a pack of riders when attacks occur. You need to balance your output with conservation. Once you light your fuse, there’s a finite amount of time before it snuffs out. Yet, you don’t want to be left in the wake of the move you should have paid attention to but missed. My goal was to let others cover breaks for the first 10 minutes or so and ride the momentum forward. At that point, I would assess how I was feeling and figure out what to do the final 8 minutes or so.

Greg Krause was the only rider I was paying attention to. He’s a stellar mountain biker and it’s just a matter of another race or two before he hits the pro ranks on the road as well. I hung on his back wheel and waited. About 7:30 into the race, Greg shifts into his big ring. “Here we go,” I think. I go to shift into my big ring and prepare to jump on his wheel when he attacks. Unfortunately, for the first time ever, my SRAM Red derailleur froze up. WTF? For about 10-15 seconds, I’ve got to fiddle with the gearing and get it working. In the meantime, Greg has attacked. By the time I’m back to the front of the group, he’s bolted to about a 12-15 second lead. No one has responded to his attack. I flirt with bridging up to him, but decide to wait. If he continues to gain ground, I’ll take off; if he dangles out front, I’ll hold back and wait.

Greg ends up dangling out there. At 10 minutes, I decide to start chipping away at his lead. I attack out of the small front group and shrink his lead to under 10 seconds. A look over my shoulder reveals 2 riders on my wheel, so I back off. The last thing I want to do is pull those guys to the front and then allow one of them to take off while I’m too tired to react. About a minute later, I surge again and trim Greg’s lead to 5 seconds. I figure now I can relax a bit, recover and save my energy for one last surge to fully catch him. Another look over my shoulder shows that there’s now only one limpet on my wheel.

I ask the guy if he wants to join forces to finish bridging up. To his credit, he started working with me. Unfortunately, he felt the best strategy was to surge hard, redline himself and then dramatically back off and pull off to the side so I would come through and take a turn at the front. The constant surges did neither of us any good. Not only did we fail to trim Greg’s lead any further, we also torched ourselves.

With 400 meters to go, the guy came past me and tried to sprint Greg down before the finish line. The constant surging had softened my legs enough so I couldn’t respond, try as I might. To my companion’s credit, he nearly caught Greg, missing out by a mere 1 second. I rolled across the line in third place, 4 ticks of the clock later in 18:40.

Overall, I’m pleased. The first hill climb of the season as well as the shortest. Next up is the Sunshine Hill Climb on May 16th. Sunshine is a 9-mile grunt up one of Boulder’s canyon roads, 5 miles of pavement followed by 4 excrutiatingly difficult miles of steep dirt. Not for the faint of heart.

Looking forward to some rematches . . .

Ride safe,
Nate