Onion Valley Personal Record (PR)

Posted on September 19, 2010 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

ONION VALLEY COMPARED TO MT VENTOUX, FRANCE

TRAINING GOAL– Monthly fitness test on Onion Valley Rd (tempo/threshold)

BIKE SETUP – 53/39 Dura-Ace 7900 Wireless SRM Crankset and 11-28 Cassette.

On 9/17 I climbed Onion Valley Rd to a Personal Record (PR) of 1 hour 44 minutes. It’s a 13 mile climb that gains over 5,000 feet in one solid shot. There are no flat spots or dips in this climb which makes this an extremely hard climb. Take for example Mount Palomar — after climbing a 5 miles you get a 3/4 mile flat section before beginning the final 6.7 miles at 7% to the summit. Or Mosquito Flat where you have a .9 mile dip 8 miles into the climb and a couple sections of fairly gently grades. Or Ancient Bristlecone/White Mountain were about 8 miles into the climb you have a 1 mile flat section before continuing on White Mountain Road to the 10,000 foot summit.

On 9/16 I climbed Mosquito Flat to a Personal Record of 2 hours 27 minutes. I was going good but I knew I had at least one more climb to do. I also climbed Pine Creek a 7.5 mile climb that was steeper than I remembered it. It’s important to mention what I did on 9/16 because I was surprised how well my legs recovered overnight. I felt really good on Onion Valley. How good?– I kept easing the pace because I thought I would blow up. I eventually fatigued but even looking at my Training Peaks chart you can see the Power curve (Yellow Line) is pretty consistent. I am happy with the consistency and I don’t think I have more than another 5 minutes to cut off this climb — this season. I would need to train a lot more drop some weight and try again next year.

Notice sustained sections above 9% and no dips

Notice the Red section shows higher cadence for same or more power

George Vargas sets Personal Record on Onion Valley 1 hour 44 minutes. Consistent improvements since June

MFRA from Training Peaks WKO 3.0

Training Peaks Graph for Onion Valley Rd PR

RED- Heart Rate

PURPLE- Temperature

GREEN- Cadence

YELLOW- Power

GREY- Torque

BLUE – Speed

ORANGE- Elevation

Data for Onion Valley Rd PR

Most Difficult Climbs in California:

1) Onion Valley — DONE 6/10/10 !!

2) Horseshoe Meadows — DONE 6/10/10!!

3) White Mountain– DONE as part of Everest Challenge Stage Race

4) Sherman Pass– DONE 6/24/10!!

5) Whitney Portal — DONE 6/10/10!!

6) Mount Baldy– DONE- too many times to mention

7) Shirley Meadows– DONE 6/24/10!!

8) South Lake– DONE as part of Everest Challenge Stage Race

9) Mount Palomar– DONE 6/06/10!!

10) Mosquito Flat– DONE 09/02/10!!

Additionally, here is the list of the 10 toughest climbs in the US.

Below is a list of some of the top cycling climb bike rides that are listed in the bookBest Cycling Climbs In The US. The book lists the 100 toughest USA road bike climbs from 1 to 100.

Onion Valley Road is compared to Mt Ventoux, France

And now for something silly– Ever since I purchased Felicia I have been outfitting her with all the latest and greatest gadgets. But one thing I have left off of her on purpose. On everyone of my race bikes I always have a Superman figurine on the seat stay cluster. My reason for leaving the Superman off is I just didn’t feel like I was in good enough form to put Superman back there. But after a successfull todays of training and two PR’s on two very tough climbs I think Felicia is finally ready to get her Superman.

Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) new PR sub 44 minutes

Posted on August 19, 2010 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

Every year as I prepare myself for the Furnace Creek 508 I pass this mile marker.

TRAINING GOALS

1. Tempo to Threshold power on short climbs

2. Fitness check

3. Personal Record attempt on Glendora Mountain Rd.

THE ROUTE

Start Boulder Springs Rd – Glendora

Warm up on Big Dalton Canyon Rd.

Climb Glendora Mountain Rd (8 mile climb)

Descend “Little GMR”

Refuel at Camp Williams spigot

Climb Little GMR (5 mile climb)

Descend GMR to Glendora

THE BIKE

Felt F2 with Di2 53/39 Crankset 11-25 Cassette

A screen shot of the entire ride from Training Peaks WKO 3.0

ORANGE- ELEVATION

YELLOW- POWER

RED- HEART RATE

Below is a screen shot of my new Personal Record (PR) 43:59 for Glendora Mountain Road (GMR). My new PR is 2:09 faster than my time from 08/08/09, almost exactly a year ago today. GMR is an 8 mile climb with a consistent 6% grade until the top where there is a dip. I felt OK but I definitely did not expect a PR the way I was riding but there it is. For those that don’t understand power maybe you would be interested to know my average speed was 11 mph. NORMALIZED POWER WAS 245 WATTS OR 3.64 w/kg and 626 kjs

SCREEN SHOT OF GLENDORA MOUNTAIN CLIMB FROM TRAINING PEAKS WKO 3.0

Screen shot of Little GMR climb

I sucked pretty badly on the Little GMR climb. My legs just didn’t have it. Surprisingly, I was only a 1 minute or so off my PR. I need to come back with fresher legs. Yesterday’s 84 miler before work (5am start) zapped my legs more than I thought. Then I worked all day spending almost 9 hours on my feet and you can see why my legs might not be as fresh as they could be.

As I was pedaling squares up Little GMR, I thought of pro cyclists having to come out day after day on a stage race and be “on it”. Just one bad day or one bad climb can ruin their prospects of winning the overall. How DO they recover every night and come out to fight again day after day?

Post where you can find information on my Previous PR

Onion Valley Road

Posted on July 11, 2010 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

ONION VALLEY ROAD IS COMPARED TO MT VENTOUX, FRANCE

I was back in Lone Pine this “weekend”. I write weekend in quotes because currently my days off are Thursday and Friday and that is my weekend. Not the traditional weekend but it is two consecutive days off. Lone Pine has become my favorite place to escape city living. A small town with great people and some of the best climbing for cyclists California has to offer.

When I visit Lone Pine I stay at the Whitney Portal Hostel. I am now a repeat customer with three great visits in the last six weeks. The hostel is conveniently located at the base of Mt Whitney. You can make reservations at (760) 876-0030. Rates are reasonable and it is a nice clean place where you meet a lot of interesting people. I highly recommend it.

SUMMARY

6 hour mountain training ride. 78 miles with 7800 feet of climbing. High temperature while I was still riding was 105F. Personal Best Onion Valley Rd (1:47). Partial climb of Horseshoe Meadow.

THE RIDE

My goal for Friday was to get in as much climbing as I could possibly achieve before the heat would be too much. Lone Pine had been in the high 90’s for the past week but it was forecasted to be over 100 F on Friday. I rolled at 630am and headed North on Hwy 395 towards Independence. It took less than an hour, 48 minutes, to travel the 16 miles required to reach Independence.

Sunrise on the Eastern Sierras

Onion Valley Road really starts off as Market Street. I made the left turn and began the long., 13 mile, hard climb up to the Onion Valley trailheads.

If you’re not careful you’ll miss the turn to the hardest climb in California

Make your turn at the Post Office

Look for the road and the switchback- there are a series of switchbacks

Look for more switchbacks

I didn’t notice the well on my first ascent back in June. But you have to get to the to the trailhead to refill your bottles.

Felt F2 with Di2 and new 7900 wireless SRM Power Meter

I thought this was funny.

Onion Valley Climb

Ok now it’s time to geek out. I did a Personal Best on the Onion Valley Rd climb. Nothing really exciting to the real climbers out there but it was a another milestone for me as I get my climbing legs back. On this trip I installed an 11-25 cassette. I remembered how much I suffered on the climb with an 11-23 cassette on my first ascent of Onion Valley in June . Armed with a 25T cog and a little better fitness I was able to increase the following metrics:

I was still grinding way too much and the 12% grades had me standing way too much to keep my momentum up. Notice the grey line on the power chart goes up as the power goes down. That grey line is torque and it really shoots up when the grade is steep. You’ll notice my power and cadence go in the opposite direction — as in down! Next time I climb Onion Valley Rd I will take an 11-27 cassette and see if I can improve the average cadence and average power by spinning a little more.

Power and Heart Rate of June 10 and July 9 compared

Cadence and Speed June 10 and July 9

Onion Valley Grade Analysis

Onion Valley is one hard climb. Just look at the chart from mile 3 to the top at almost mile 13. It stays in the 7.5% to 10% grade range for almost 10 miles!! With the only exception being when it pops up and over 10% grade. Onion Valley gains over 5,000 feet in those hard miles.

Onion Valley Road compared to Mt Ventoux, France

Dana Point out and back with new 1 minute Peak Power

Posted on May 26, 2010 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

Two hour training ride today from the shop to Dana Point. 38 miles round trip with about 1,200 feet of gain. I tried to maintain a good tempo with hard efforts mixed in. My Normalized Power for the 2 hour ride was 248 watts (3.69 w/kg). While in Dana Point I attempted and accomplished besting my 1 minute peak power number. It was 534 now it is 609 watts (9.07 w/kg).

Here is the Garmin download.

I am really happy with my 1 minute peak power number of 609 watts it’s almost half-way into the Cat 2 range. The hill I performed this 1 minute number was really steep (about 10%) which helped me keep high power. Now I would like to try a one minute test on a shallow hill of maybe 6% grade.

Food Park Training Ride

Posted on August 22, 2009 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

I had a good day on the bike. The last half of August and September is about intensity as I peak for Furnace Creek 508. I did Food Park for the first time. There were a few sketchy riders and they ran a few stops signs in the residential area. In my opinion, the right turns on red were questionable as well. I do have concerns about the overall safety of this ride. I am a huge proponent of safety on the bike. When riding alone I stop at EVERY stop sign and every light. I have an internal conflict with the way groups ride in urban areas. On one hand, I don’t want to be unsafe and on the other I don’t want to get dropped or cause a crash if I’m the only one stopping at a traffic control. I guess that’s why most weekends you can find me riding solo in the mountains.

As an Ultra cyclist I don’t ride in packs. Many of my races break up pretty early and the other races are non-drafting. I felt my pack riding skills were fine. In other words I felt comfortable and not the sketchy rider people had to yell at — “hold your line!”. My sixth sense for the flow of the pack was spot-on. I didn’t miss a thing. I ignored many attacks that I sensed wouldn’t amount to much but wasted energy.

What helped the most was marking Jason Bausch the whole ride. His experience helped me make efforts at the right times and conserve at others. Even when attacks went up the road he was steady. I learned a lot from him today.

JB was gracious enough to take a picture with me. I took the picture for my son. My not quite 5 year old son has been watching the Hard Road DVD for about 1 1/2 years. He loves the soundtrack and always remembers the roll call of the teams– Mercury seems to stick out for some reason.

After my shower and my recovery meal it was time to put on my Skins Travel and Recovery tights. I’m planning on doing Como Street tomorrow. A fast recovery and fresh legs will be necessary to keep up with those boys.

TRAINING PEAKS SCREEN SHOT OF MY POWER TAP DOWNLOAD– 534 WATTS FOR ONE MINUTE

149LBS OR 67.59 kg my

7.90 w/kg for one minute a new PR.

After looking at the graph I am quite sure that my 1 min number would actually be higher than 534 depending on the situation. I remember distinctly what happened. There was an attack which I didn’t follow so I surged but backed off. Then I saw JB go and that was the right time to go. As you can see there was

an initial surge to 672 watts

then a pull back down to 240 watts

then another surge up to 885 watts with 10 sec avg at 743 watts

then the last 30 secs (when I should’ve been fading) I still put out a 553 avg.

ALSO HAD A MAX SPRINT OF 1077 WATTS OR 15.93 w/kg and a 5 sec of 995 watts or 14.72 w/kg good for mid cat four on the Power Profile chart.

Newport Coast Dr Hill Repeats

Posted on August 10, 2009 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

Sunday morning was an easy and mellow morning. Brandy and I spent some quiet time together while the kids were out playing. We walked the dog and then made and ate brunch together. A very nice morning indeed.

I didn’t get on the road until 2pm but still put in a good days work. Hill repeats on a local hill that starts with a 1.5 mile 6% then a flat spot with a slight downhill as you transition to Vista Ridge which pitches up 10-12% before it flattens out for a short stretch and then two more steep pitches.

As you can see above 6000 feet of gain in 43 miles.

Below you will find a detail blowout of one repeat which incidentally was best for the day. It helps to have a rabbit to chase. All part of the plan the month of August and September is about increasing the intensity and reducing the volume.

SCREEN SHOT FROM TRAININGPEAKS

NORMALIZED POWER 280 WATTS FOR A 4.14 W/KG for 21 minutes not bad considering all the flat spots on the climb. And that 983 watt power spike was a weak attempt to sprint the last steep pitch but I didn’t make it.

Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) Personal Record

Posted on August 9, 2009 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

64 MILES WITH 10,000 FEET OF CLIMBING

Since I don’t really have a PR for GMR I’m going to use 45:50 from the gate to the crest on GMR (which is .2 of a mile past the little shack that everyone stops at).

SCREEN SHOT FROM TRAINING PEAKS

NORMALIZED POWER WAS 247 WATTS WEIGHT WAS 149 LBS OR 67.5 KG

3.65 W/KG FOR 46 MINUTES

The graph below is the descent from the top of GMR to the Gate. I was curious what my time and average speed would be. For the locals I included the small roller

AVG SPEED 31.3 MPH
TIME 15:33

216 miles with 13,500 feet of gain

New 5 Min Numbers

Posted on July 30, 2009 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

I was feeling pretty good last night during my commute–amazing what two days off the bike will do for your recovery. During my 69 mile commute I sometimes take a detour and climb a 1.5 mile 6% hill named Newport Coast Dr. Last night I wanted to see if my 5 min number had improved since my last “field test” over a month ago.

HERE IS A SCREEN SHOT FROM TRAINING PEAKS

I weighed 150lbs or 68 kg

my NORMALIZED POWER was 340

340/68 = 5 w/kg

Not bad for an amateur. According to the Coggan power profile chart it is in the grey area between Cat 3 and Cat 2.

source

Weekend of climbing

Posted on July 27, 2009 by REV Cycling Directeur Sportif

On Saturday I did 13,400 feet of gain in 114 miles. The hardest part of the ride had over 12,500 feet of gain in 80 miles. The heat and time in the saddle made the Baldy Road climb very difficult. I was struggling to maintain my speed above 5 mph on the last 2 miles of Baldy Rd.

On the bright side I PR’d the little GMR climb. It is a 5 mile climb in the 6% range. My time was 28:13 Normalized Power of 263 (3.87 w/kg). I’m really proud of that even though pros climb at over 6 w/kg. BUT, I’m not a pro and that’s good enough for me.

Here is a screen shot from Training Peaks software on my PR.

On Sunday I did a shorter route than I had planned. I didn’t recover well enough from Saturday’s efforts. I wanted to stay close to the car so I only did 57 miles with 7,300 feet of climbing.