Category Archives: Training

Torrey Pines Hill Workout Today Rough Riding Tomorrow

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Welcome and thank you for stopping by…

Ride Stats– 33 miles and 4100 feet of gain on 11 ascents.

I had an unexpected 2.5 hours to train while in San Diego today. Being that I had such a small window I decided to do hill repeats on Torrey Pines. It had been a long time since doing a workout on that hill but after the first repeat it all came back to me. You see when I lived in Encinitas I would do hill repeats on Torrey Pines about once a week. It was also the turn around point of a lunch time ride of 21 miles and 1,000 feet of gain. I’ve done so many ascents of that hill I know where every crack is, where every tree root is breaking the pavement and every undulation.

The stats are 1.3 miles and 400 feet of gain.

I think it is just the right amount of effort and recovery when you loop around the inside of the park. The scenery is amazing. You are on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I feel rejuvenated each time I go through the park as I descend and recover for the next ascent. It is a popular place for beach goers, hikers and runners. My descent through the park is a nice diversion from the pain I feel on each climb. Today my pass through the park was so much of a diversion that I lost count of my repeats. Hence, the odd number of 11 ascents.

Weight of 150lbs today or 68.04 kg The Efforts range from high 8 minutes to low 7 minutes. Later in the season I work towards sub 6 minute climbs Torrey Pines.

1. Warm up climb at 2.87 w/kg
2. 3.43 w/kg
3. 3.88 w/kg
4. 4.21 w/kg
5. 4.58 w/kg
6. 4.32 w/kg
7. 4.02 w/kg
8. 3.55 w/kg
9. 3.70 w/kg
10. 3.53 w/kg
11. 3.82 w/kg

Tomorrow Brandy and I will go on a little adventure. We will be riding Maple Springs Rd which continues climbing “at the end” of Silverado Canyon. I’ve taken my ever versatile Cannondale CAAD9 and put 28mm tires on it. I say ever versatile since I’ve raced crits, commuted, gone on climbing rides and now will do some Rough Riding.

Tune in tomorrow for more on our ride!

Santa Monica Mountains Century

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I believe the entire century was done in this area. South of Hwy 101.

11,000 feet of climbing in a 102 miles.

For the power mongrols– over 4,000 kj (I weigh about 155lbs)

I’ve got just a few minutes to spare but I am bursting with excitement about my great training ride on Sunday March 29, 2009.

Chris Kostman, from AdventureCorps, took me for a ride in the Santa Monica Mountains. Home of the famous Mulholland Hwy and many other roads. Luckily Chris knew every road, and fire road, in the area because I was so turned around I didn’t know where I was half the time. He even knew the locations of all the secret “water holes”.

The weather was overcast and hazy and a bit chilly when you hit patches of low fog. The riding was amazing and the climbing was very challenging. But doesn’t that make for a better ride? Of course it does!!

I haven’t had time to download the pictures and videos yet. Check back in a couple of days.

Glendora Ridge Road

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I rode up to Cow Canyon Saddle today. The weather was beautiful! Plenty of snow and ice on the road. Would have been a lot smarter on at least a cross bike. Oh well it was a blast.

As far as training I can’t remember what my PR is for Glendora Mountain Road. So I guess I will call it sub 49 mins and try to beat that from now on.


GMR to post:
Duration: 48:13
Work: 674 kJ
TSS: 97.4 (intensity factor 1.101)
Norm Power: 242 Approx 3.4 w/kg
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: 9.49%
Pa:HR: -7.81%
Distance: 8.356 mi

Avg 233 watts
Heart Rate 184 bpm
Cadence: 76 rpm
Speed: 10.4 mph
Pace 5:47 min/mi

If at first you don’t succeed…

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do it again. I did the same century I did last week. I suffered pretty bad last week and I had to go back and redeem myself. I was 22 minutes (total time) faster this week. Some of it is due to leaving the house at 4:14 am instead of 8am as I did last week. But mainly because I had better legs. It was amazing how much fitness I had lost in 8 weeks. What I am most happy with is the non-rolling time to total time is just shy of 8 mins. This route is quite urban so considering all the potential for traffic signals, I’m please with only 8 mins.

I also took the time to route it in Bikely.com or you can find the route sheet here. Brandy created the route and it is a pretty darn good one. Lot’s of bike lanes and there are opportunities to take on extra climbs to add more gain.

First Century since Furnace Creek 508

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I went out for a century. I hadn’t done a century since Furnace Creek 508 Oct 4. As many of you know my right thumb was fractured on Oct 30. I was off the bike for 3 weeks straight. Then I did 4 rides here and there with a total less than 150 miles in the last 3 weeks. It was not pretty but I got it done. My legs were shot around 70 miles and I had to limp home. It was 104 miles with only 5600 feet and I was pooped. Oh and I have also gained 6 lbs in the last 6 weeks.

Entire workout (137 watts):
Duration: 6:44:40 (7:03:41)
Work: 3202 kJ
TSS: 462 (intensity factor 0.843)
Norm Power: 186
VI: 1.36
Pw:HR: 15.56%
Pa:HR: -4.27%
Distance: 103.917 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 697 137 watts
Heart Rate: 94 194 156 bpm
Cadence: 29 174 79 rpm
Speed: 0 40.9 16.0 mph
Pace 1:28 0:00 3:45 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 411 68 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 904 149 lb-in

Tandem Ride

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Brandy and I took the tandem out for a short ride. 34 miles and ~1900 feet of climbing . We did two repeats on a local 1.5 mile climb called Newport Coast Dr (1700 feet in 12 miles). We are new tandem riders and it was quite humbling to climb a 6% at about 8 mph. When I got home I realized that the 34 miles on the tandem felt harder than when I do the same route by myself. I found that interesting. Interesting because we plan on doing our first century on the bike the x-mas holiday and our first Ultra on January 3rd, the San Diego 200km Brevet. You can also find information on the event website here.

Riding again…

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Well not like before. But I have taken a few short rides. According to my surgeon I should not be riding for at least another three weeks. And even then I think he will not allow me to ride. I don’t blame him it is still very painful to use my right hand. When I ride I hold my left shoulder with my right hand (the busted one).

There is actually a lot of benefit to riding this way. Firstly, I am working on my riding skills. Secondly, I am able to focus on using my core to hold my body up and straight. I ride without a lot of pressure on my left hand. Thirdly, I focus on producing all power from good pedal mechanics. Pushing and pulling up on the pedals without the aide of my hands and arms pulling on the bars. Fourthly, I am doing my climbs seated and really working on my climbing technique. You know the old saying when given lemons make lemonade!!

Here’s what I have done lately:

Saturday November 22– 55 miles with 5000 feet of climbing (with a client)
Sunday November 23—60 miles with 2000 feet of climbing coastal ride
Thanksgiving Day..27—30 miles on my Fixed Gear 49 x 16 (81.5 GI) coastal with Brandy
Sunday ..November 30—30 miles on Fixed Gear 49 x 16 (El Chart below)

Where typically I would be doing 250-300 mile weeks this time of year I am barely getting 100 per week. My first event is the SAN DIEGO BREVET SERIES 200KM ON JANUARY 3, 2009.

My Last Hard Training Ride…

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^^^ Graph of ride. Notice the first climb 35 miles with some rollers.

^^^ Dawson Saddle Summit at 7901 feet of elevation

^^^ How convenient that Motor Tabs tablets fits into my Speefil hydration system.

^^^ Another summit along the way. It is great to have the opportunity to climb from Sea Level to 7000 feet and eventually almost 8,000 feet!

well before Furnace Creek 508 that is.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank a few sponsors that keep me rolling. I fueled with Sportquest CarboPro and Motortabs. I rode a Speedfil and a hydration pack from Nathan Sports.

I did a 107 mile training ride in the San Gabriel Mountains. I left Encanto Park (below 1000 feet) in Duarte and rode up Hwy 39 to the Angeles Crest Hwy junction and then continued East another 5.3 miles to Dawson Saddle elevation 7901 feet. It was a 35 mile climb with over 7,000 feet of gain.

I then headed West on the AC Hwy and got water from Newcombs Ranch. I climbed back to Dawson Saddle a second time via Cloudburst Summit at 7018 elevation.

It was a great day of climbing with VERY little traffic. Mostly because the lion’s share of the climbing is done on closed roads. It was a solo ride. I only saw one cyclist all day near Cloudburst Summit. He was coming East up the AC Hwy.

This was a tough ride but since it was cooler at elevation I felt good most of the day. I dreaded the descent into the blast furnace.

Sure it was a 107 miles with 12,300 but 11,700 feet came within the first 72 miles all of it on a Cervelo P3 which people say “you can’t climb on a tri-bike”.  I say they just need to practice and use proper technique.  I usually do the first 200 miles of the Furnace Creek 508 on a Cervelo P3 and that has 12,000 feet of climbing.

The main drawback I saw with doing this ride on a TT bike was that on the descent there are a few sketchy sections where the road is in varied states of disrepair.  The section from 5,000 feet, up and past the Ghost town of Crystal Lake, to connection of Angeles Crest Hwy has lots of rocks and potholes.  The climbing up to 5,000 feet was fairly clear.  The climbing on Angeles Crest Hwy was fairly clear as well.  You need lots of flat repair options because the roads are closed to vehicles and there is no cell service.

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My Solo 175 miler (282 kms)- Dawson Saddle

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On Sunday I went out to do 175 miles (282 kms) solo. I rode from Huntington Beach to Dawson Saddle (7901 ft) in the San Gabriel Mountains. The ride has 8600 feet (2621 meters) of gain. The largest chunk of it comes in a 33 mile 7,000+ feet of gain (2133 meters) in a remote closed road section. No cars and no people for hours and hours just the way I like it. I love doing long solo rides.

The ride took me North on the Pacific Coast Hwy to Seal Beach then Northeast on the San Gabriel Bike Trail. Hwy 39 up past Crystal Lake (where I went two weeks ago)to the junction of Angeles Crest Hwy then continuing up to Dawson Saddle.

Meet Rebecca, my climbing bike. It is a Cervelo R3-SL. Very light very stiff and unbelievably it has a great smooth ride. It is dressed out in a Dura-Ace kit with Velocity Arrowhead rims on a Powertap Wireless 2.4 SL.

Rebecca before the Fred Pump

After the fred pump

Flat repair- notice Park Tool Patches

18 gel packets stuffed into my shorts

Three bottles in my jersey pockets with powder mix NO WATER yet

Beginning of Hwy 39 climb

9 miles into the climb East Fork Turn Off


11.5 miles into the climb the road is closed

Nearest Mile Marker to the first gate

15 Miles into the climb 3,000 feet

THIS IS A SPECIAL PLACE

Looking down

About 4,000 feet (1219 meters) elevation about 18,8 miles (30.3 kms) into the climb there is a stream. It has been really hot lately so I usually dunk my head in the icy cold water. It is very refreshing. Some folks drink from it.

About 21.2 Miles (34 kms)into the climb the 5000 ft (1524 meters) sign

Crystal Lake Turn Off if you read an earlier post you will recognize this as the destination point in that post. You may also recall it is a veritable ghost town.

About 27.8 miles junction to Angeles Crest Hwy

Destination Dawson Saddle 7901 ft (2408 meters) 33.3 miles (53.1 kms) of climbing.

EPIC Climbing on Labor Day Weekend

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Saturday:

Climb #1

We left the house at 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning to drive up. I had no idea where we were going until the signs on Highway 65 gave away our destination. We arrived in Springville early Saturday morning and started out on our first climb of the day.

Balch Park Road Loop started out at 1000 ft elevation and went up to 6400 ft. We took a little detour off of the main road and ended up with 5700 ft. of gain for this climb.

Climb #2

We went back to Springville and had lunch at the cafe, which has been there since 1897. Service was a little on the slow side, so we were off of the bike longer than we anticipated. While at the cafe, we stared at the thermometer which read 100+ degrees. IN THE SHADE!

Highway 190 out of Springville started at 1000 ft and Brandy made it to 5500 ft, while I made it to 6300 ft. It was over 106 degrees when we left (with 4 bottles each) on our second climb of the day. Though Brandy is getting better about riding in the high temps, she still overheats fairly easily and the Tule River was calling her name. I was back taking pictures when Brandy decided to pull off of the road and take a dip in a beautiful pool of water. I indulged her diversion from the plan and she shed her gear for a little skinny dipping. This put us behind schedule and losing daylight, but it was well worth it. I didn’t mind at all.

Sunday:

From our motel in Porterville, we drove up to Three Rivers.

Mineral King Road was our climb for the day. From a starting elevation of 800 ft in Three Rivers to an ending elevation of 7800 ft at the end of the road, we gained over 7400 ft on this climb. The road was narrow, steep, sometimes unpaved (not hard packed dirt…but SAND!) and is reported to have over 698 curves. Totally awe inspiring. The views were breathtaking.

Mineral King Road is one of the toughest climbs I have done in recent memory. It is 7,400 + feet of gain in one shot (including the warm up climb before the turn off). It has sustained ramps of 10-12% grades. There are sections that avg 10% for over 1.5 miles. It got to the point where I didn’t want a relief in the road because all it meant was that I was going to have to pay for it. Just after a leveling off section BAM! you would get hit with 12-14% grade ramp. This cycle of relief and punishment repeats itself over and over and over again over the 25 miles.

Then closer to the top above 6,000 ft there were sand sections with the 12% grades. Our 23mm tires were sinking in to the sand. Hard packed dirt would have been better. Next time we will ride 25mm tires.

The motorists all said it took them over two hours to drive the 23 miles up all the switchbacks, ramps, single lane travel, potholes, loose gravel and did I mention the very narrow road without guardrails?

Mineral King is a very tough climb indeed.