The Joys of High Country Cycling
I purchased a new toy this afternoon but before I write up a full review, I wanted to give a glimpse of what an "easy" spin is around the Cheyenne Mountain neighborhood.
Exhibit A (click for full size image)
To try out my new toy, I embarked on the easiest ride I could just to get some data points to use with the accompanying software. But as you see from the graph above (X axis is distance, Y axis is elevation/grade), there aren't any really easy rides near home.
Three hills in 13 miles of riding, each with 18% grades and all above 6,100 feet in elevation. The 91 degree temperature didn't help any, but this post is just about the terrain.
There are plenty of flat roads around here but they're all 40-50 miles east of Colorado Springs so I better just keep losing the weight and learn to love climbing.
Here's the map (click on the image to see it on Google Maps):
And the .kmz file for Google Earth.
All the above data was collected and transmitted automatically by my new toy which I'll review here shortly.
North Cheyenne Canyon Climb
On an incredibly long conference call on Thursday, my mind wondered off to pro cycling and I wanted to check on Coloradan Tom Danielson's shoulder injury so I cruised on over to his website at http://www.tomdanielson.com. I'd been there before but missed the link down on the lower left hand corner that said "Hill Climb Records." Thie first one listed was Cheyenne Canyon which he'd set the record for in 2006. I'd heard about this one before, I remember reading about it in VeloNews a few years back in a story about Bobby Julich's preparation for the 1998 Tour (where he finished 3rd). I thought it was in Arizona.
Hmmm. Reading, reading, HOLY CRAP, this is not only in Colorado Springs but less than five miles away from my house!!
My attention immediately left the call (as if it were ever there) and I began pouring over topographical maps of the area and Google Earth. I couldn't believe it. Here is a climb just a few short minutes from where I live that all the best pros, Armstrong, Hamilton, Hincapie, Vaughters, Landis, Danielson, Julich and many more come to test themselves. I read real documented notes of their times. I quickly shot off an e-mail to Amy advising her of the field trip we were going to go on as soon as I got home. I left a few minutes later (it was about 3 pm).
The recon drive up the 3 mile mountain was a little intimidating but I knew I could do it. The average gradient is 8.5% with two small pitches above 18% and the road was really narrow. The elevation tops out at 7.680 feet. I was more concerned about the descent than the climb (my bike is old and it sucks). Friday was to be the day.
When I woke up, the first conscious thought I had was about the mountain. I seriously doubt if 3 consecutive minutes passed where I didn't pay it some thought. I set the time in my head for 4 pm. The hours dragged on but once noon passed, I found myself getting noticeably nervous. I hadn't climbed anything like this, even in my junior years and if I had, it definitely wasn't anywhere close to this altitude (even though I consider myself to be completely acclimatized). Doubts popped into my head like "it's supposed to be a rest day" or "damn, it's kinda windy" or "crap, I can't find my lucky cycling jersey" but I knew I would obsess about it for weeks if I didn't just do it.
Ok, this is getting boring so let's get to the climb.
North Cheyenne Canyon Climb (click for a larger version)
Download the Google Earth .kmz file from me HERE.
Mile 1
My plan was to warm up for at least 20 minutes and get the HR to 165 for at least 5 minutes. I wanted some sting in my legs so they knew what to expect but I just couldn't wait. No fewer than three minutes after I got out of my car, my heart rate was 177 and I was in my 39x23. There was a head wind for the first half mile until I entered the canyon deeper and my speed noticeably improved. My brain overrode my body's will however and I eased off a bit since I'd never been up this thing outside of a car. I passed through the first mile in a little over 9 minutes.
Mile 2
The first real pitch above 8 % comes right after the first mile and I was down to my last gear, 39x25; I was going to have to stay here until I reached the summit. Mile 1 to 1.5 was rather uneventful, I'd say 8-9% most of the way with one .10 level stretch that only destroyed my rhythm. Right at the 1.5 mark, I rounded a corner and was unexpectedly hit by what felt to be a wall. The pitch was tremendous and through a left hand curve, did everything I could do to remain upright. I was standing, hunched over the front of my bike because if I'd sat down, I surely would have fallen backwards, it was that steep. At this point, I was going about 3 mph and dangerously close to falling over. My back was killing me from putting everything I had into every stroke and in an attempt to stay upright, I gave it 100% and in the process lifted my front wheel up and slightly to the right. I have no idea how I didn't land on my side. The first thoughts of stopping entered into my mind. I could not take many more feet of this let alone a mile and a half. Somehow I got through it (HR was 196 at this point) when I turned a right switchback and I settled down to a blazing 7 mph at 185 bpm. But instead of hitting the throttle again, I held back thinking there was just more of that to come. I hit mile 2 in 18 minutes and 20 seconds.
Mile 3 and The End
Once I saw 2.10 on the trip meter, I started to feel better and knew that regardless of what lay ahead, it would at most be 10 minutes of suffering. One more corner and I saw the parking lot for Helen Hunt Falls, one of the few things I remembered from the recon trip the day before. This sight gave me unimaginable confidence as I knew that wasn't too far from the summit so I dropped down to my 39x23, stood and gunned it. 9% seemed like nothing now and I got goose bumps going into and coming out of the French Alps style switchbacks. I knew the biggest pitch lay ahead but there was only 2.0 after that and even if I were completely anaerobic (which I was surely to be) I could make that. That last hairpin switchback was steeper than I had anticipated but the knowledge of the end propelled me up. I hadn't looked at the computer since 2.10 miles and was crushed when I saw 29:01. Danielson would have been able to climb it, descend and climb it again, passing me before I hit Helen Hunt Falls. Sure, I'm over 90 pounds heavier and my bike is 4.5 heavier than his but I was not going to be able to go home, kiss Amy and pet the dogs and cats with a performance like that. So I did it again.
View from the top
I'll spare you from all the details of the second ride except that I went much harder during the first mile and a half which made all the difference as I finished in 24:44. I knocked almost five minutes off my first attempt though I think a majority of that was from the good warm-up (HA!) that I had before.
Let's compare my best performance of 24:44 to that of some people you might know:
1) Tom Danielson: 13:34
2) Lance Armstrong: 14:11
3) Bobby Julich: 14:58
4) Danny Pate: 14:27
5) Mike Creed: 14:50
I SUCK. I weigh 232 now and it will be interesting to test myself on this monster as I get lighter and my fitness improves.
36 Down
It's been about a month and a half since I reported that I had lost 20 pounds so it's coming off a little more slowly now. I guess that's not really surprising, once Amy got out to Colorado, I cut the duration of my daily rides from 121 minutes to 90 minutes (so she'd still want to marry me) but I hoped to make up for that by taking the dogs on a 2 mile walk every night.
In any event, I'm still on track to be 199 by January 1st and that'll give me about 7 1/2 months to hit my target goal of 159 on 7/23/08. Why is it going to take me that long? I want to lose the weight but not any of the power, that would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise.
I've noticed a few interesting things:
1) I'm very, very good at riding right near my anaerobic threshold for long periods of time but terrible at medium paces or variable paces. This explains why I did so well in time trials but got my ass constantly kicked in criteriums when I raced.
2) Rest days are killers. Not the day you rest, but the day you come back. I'm currently on a 7-1-7-2 (7 days on, 1 day off, 7 days on, 2 days off, repeat) program and if I'm relatively inactive on that rest day, the first day back is always a killer. Counterintuitively, day 7 is ALWAYS my best day performance wise. I've set every average speed record on the 7th day.
3) I perform best between 66 and 68 degrees with 60% humidity or less.
4) Maybe it's the altitude but I'm producing more power than I ever have in my life. Ever.
I'll try to start posting more often but right now, it's all about the bike.
20 Down
Sorry to freak everyone out with my lack of posting but I've been kinda busy. In addition to another promotion by default (always seems to happen to me and it's never, ever good), I've been seriously busting my ass to lose weight now that I'm not traveling and can eat properly. Back on June 5th, I reported my weight as 269.5 and when I hit the scale this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see 249.5 on the LCD before me. 20 pounds in a month. Not bad but I was shooting for 25 even though I expected to gain some serious leg muscle. My program is pretty simple:
1) 121 minutes of cycling @ 75% of capacity 6 days a week
2) 30 minutes of easy spinning on the day I have off
3) No soda
4) No fast food
5) Some type of whole grain cereal for breakfast every morning
6) Weigh myself every morning and record it in my cycling log spreadsheet
The only hard part above was the no fast food but it hasn't been a problem since I'm only a half mile away from home. I can't make the convenience argument anymore. But other than that, I don't watch what I eat and eat when I'm hungry. This is really the first ever real attempt at losing weight in my life and it really wasn't that hard after the first three days. I don't think I would have lost even an ounce had I not been cycling this hard so I'm convinced weight loss by diet only is a farce.
One thing I've learned is to weigh yourself every day. Yes, every day. All the diet books I've ever seen say to avoid doing that because you might get discouraged. BS I say. Weighing myself made me think every day why I'm making this choice or that choice and why I have to go sit on the trainer for 2 hours and one minute. Some days I was annoyed but I knew the battle wasn't for a day and if I gained half a pound or so, I would just lose it over time.
Unfortunately, 20 pounds isn't much and the only place I've noticed it is in my thighs. I used to be able to easily "pinch and inch" but not anymore. My waist is the same size but my legs are thinner despite the extra muscle. But then again, I'm not doing this for appearance, I'm doing this to climb Evans faster. I've got exactly one year to drop another hundred before I'm ready.
3 1/4 Nicole Ritchies
In the spring of 2005, I had a series of mechanical issues with my bikes and got too busy to ride. I had taken a fairly stressful job that was a decent commute from Fall City and slowly but surely, I began to pack on the pounds. I think the biggest reason I didn't notice was that the waist size of my jeans remained steady from 2001 but as I found out last Tuesday, that's not such a good indicator.
After having more difficulty than I expected on some hills here in Colorado Springs, I decided to get serious about my weight and bought a sc
ale and cleaned out the junk food in my condo. I stepped on the scale and my heart literally missed a beat- 3.24698 Nicole Ritchies! I read in some newspaper that she was down to 83 pounds so you can take those numbers and solve for x.
So starting last Tuesday, I've been busting serious ass. No more soda, no more fast food and a decent breakfast (no more of my beloved Cocoa Pebbles and Apple Jacks). And lots and lots of exercise.
To make sure that I still had my engine, I did a 61 minute test on the tortuous bike trainer (I'd show you but I'm pretty sure just having this thing in my possession violates one of the Geneva Convention articles) to see how many watts I could sustain. Despite appalling lack of fitness, I managed 383 watts which is considerably better than I had hoped for. This is a signal that my engine is still in tact and I just need to lose the mass I have to move to be decent again. I'll definitely need to do that if I want to have any chance of owning Mt. Evans. The trainer sucks hardcore and is uncomfortable but its a great way to see how much power you can sustain for a certain period of time. Still I have months and months of uncomfortable riding ahead of me if I'm going to get down to 2.25 NRs. Stay tuned.
