Mike's Bike Blog

The Tour das Hugel date has been announced for November 15 with a 7 am start time. For those not familiar with this ride it is 100 miles of the most notorious hills Austin has to offer with 10,000 feet of climbing! The ride is free of charge, but if you complete the ride then you have the opportunity to purchase a t-shirt. This will be my first attempt at this event and hopefully all the climbing I've done this past year will pay off. Who's with me?

Looking at the Tour das Hugel main page it has not been updated with the new date, however, the information page has.

What a Sunday ride, I headed into Austin to climb a few hills. Here's the hills and the order I did them in:

• Mesa
• Ladera Norte
• Far West
• Adirondack Trail
• Mountain Ridge
• Arboretum
• Bluegrass
• Beauford
• Jester
• Twin Creeks

 

In all the total mileage was only 54.18 miles and it took me 4 hours of active time and 4:33 of total time. I took a little breather on top of Bluegrass and then refilled my bottles at the Subway at the base of Jester. Whenever I go up Beauford I always think it's a tougher climb than Jester but that is always erased once I start up Jester.

There is some construction on Jester, it didn't really get in the way, but if you are going to attack Jester be forewarned as I'm not sure what the construction plans are and I'd hate for anybody to have to turn around due to construction. I must admit Jester really had my number today, I crawled up it at 3 to 4 miles per hour (avg speed of 4.2mph). I need to adjust my rear derailleur as when I shift into my lowest gear it wont shift out. The shifter snaps and acts like it's going to shift but the rear derailleur doesn't engage. It takes some finessing the shifters to get it unstuck. Needless to say for this ride my workaround was just not to shift into my lowest gear.

I averaged 13.5 mph for the entire ride and burned 2351 kJ. Not bad for a 50 mile ride with 5000 feet of climbing. For this ride I started off with a 2 hour bottle of Hammer Perpetuem (4 scoops) and had my second bottle prefilled with another 2 hour bottle. I also brought along my hydration pack filled with good old water. I felt great the entire ride with energy, I definitely had more in the tank to keep going. Post ride I feel fine as well, no muscle soreness.

This week had me preoccupied at work as we were deploying my latest project, which entailed late nights. I wasn't able to get out for a ride last Saturday, I was at the office. I did get out on Sunday for the evening ride with the Hammerhead bikes crew. I met them at Cool River Cafe on Parmer and we rode up Parmer to Highway 29 and then headed West towards Liberty Hill to CR 266. CR 266 is 2.1 miles west on HW 29 on the left. It is a quiet 4.5 miles and will dump you back out on Parmer just south of Hwy 29, you will be able to see the Parmer/29 intersection to the left. There's a long hill as you make your way back to Parmer, the total 4.5 mile section is 273 feet of climbing. I'm not a big fan of going down 29, but it wasn't too bad. Might be safer to turn around at 29 and head back South on Parmer and catch the exit and go down it to 29 and then go back via 266. You'll get double the hills!

Now that brings us to this weekend. On Saturday I headed out on 620 to the dam and down to the water crossing and back up and back onto 620 heading back into Cedar Park. When I got to 4 points I turned and made my way to River Place. Normally when I go to ride up Big Hill I turn left onto Big View from River Place and then go down to the river and back up. On Saturday I stayed on River Place and went down to Big View that way. The views from River Place are a lot better than Big View, so go figure. It's not straight down either on River Place. There was a little climb, .3 miles that averaged 4.9% gradient that maxed out out 11.1%. Once I got down to the bottom I then went back up and then headed home. I got to wondering though, if going up Big View to catching River Place and then up River Place would be harder than going up Big View all the way. Looking at the Garmin data comparing the decent to the ascent there's about a 50 foot difference between the two. Going all the way up Big View would appear to have the slight edge. Looks like I'll have to investigate this further. The Saturday ride total 34.35 miles with 1862 feet of climbing in 2 hours.

This brings us to today, Sunday. I woke up with stiff legs, I was quite surprised actually. My little 2 hill stomp shouldn't have left me so sore.  Since I already confirmed that I'd ride Sunday morning with C.J. and Dan I headed out. My legs started to loosen up so I hoped I'd be fine. Once we got out on Parmer from Spicewood Elementary we averaged 19 mph up to 2238 (Andice Road). Dan dropped out at Hwy 29 to get back home, but C.J. and me proceeded on.

I was suffering keeping pace, on the way back we averaged 19.4 mph, I must have looked bad as C.J. asked a couple times if I was ok. I pushed on though, luckily he pulled most of the way as I suffered and cursed the lactic acid in my legs. I think I took the lead South of Hwy 29 and pulled us into the gas station at the heavenly oasis that is the gas station on Parmer and 1431, ice and tap water have never tasted better. Needless to say I didn't hydrate well on this ride either. I did manage to get a bar into me at 2238, but I didn't drink enough water and I was paying for it dearly. The pace was well within my means, the Hammerhead group rides have been averaging 19 mph and my past ventures on Parmer have averaged 19-20 mph.

The Theory

So what went wrong? This left me wondering what was different. Like I said the Saturday ride wasn't anything I'd think would leave me so sore. It finally hit me tonight as I looked at what I did for my recovery. Normally when I get home I mix up my own recovery shake of a mixture of Hammer Whey and Heed along with skim milk and a frozen banana. We've run out of Hammer Whey and Heed, so I bought a replacement whey from HEB. No it wasn't Hammer based. I'll be calling Hammer and placing an order come Tuesday.

I thought that I had on my 2008 goals to ride the hill (the 3 Sisters), on Limecreek in 3:30, but I don't see it in my 2008 resolution or in my mid year review. However, the 3:30 mark up the "Sisters" is getting within my reach. Tonight after work I headed out on Limecreek, I went down to Volente and back. My protocol for this test is to stop at the base of the hill and then proceed up it to the top. At the top I stop the timer where the telephone/power line crosses the road.

My time tonight was 3:47, the previous best was 4:14 back in June.

The Numbers up the hill

	Max	Avg
Speed	20.67	8.37
Cadence	88	65
Power	686	377
Gradient	15.6%	8.5%

 

Today's time is very encouraging, it's nice to see improvement. When you see results its the encouragement you need to keep training and pushing yourself. That's one good reason to keep track of your workouts but to also set goals. Bryan over at Riding to Live has a nice post on setting goals.

According to Joe Friel there are 3 athlete types, (artist, scientific & accountant). I guess I fall more along the lines of a scientific athlete. I keep moderate records, but I don't really pour over them once I download the numbers. I do find myself making more and more calculations while I'm out on a ride which is more akin to the Accountant type of athlete. I try to figure based on my power how many "matches" I have and calculate how much energy I've used and need to replenish my calories.

On Friday for my commute home I decided to take a different route. I had the bright idea of going home via Bluegrass. I had ridden up it the week before so going home on this new route shouldn't be a problem. In fact mileage wise it is the shortest distance from my house to the office on Far West at 15 miles. There was one thing I didn't count on, 100 degree weather!

When I started my climb up Bluegrass I noticed that this time it was a bit more difficult than on Saturday mornings ride up it. I made it up and at the top grabbed my water bottle only to find it was already hot. So I grabbed my second one that I had frozen in the freezer, not only had it melted but it too was teetering on the warm to hot level, it was not going to provide the cool thirst quenching hydration that I longed for. I pulled out my directions that I had on my iPhone and pushed on. I started to notice every so often that I'd hear a clicking sound, more like a sticky sound like I'd rolled through gum or tar. I kept weaving through the neighborhoods, stopping for water and to check my directions and noticing that there was tar or hot asphalt in sections of the road. Unfortunately, I missed a turn and once again rolled through the black sticky substance. This time some of the road debris stuck to my front tire. I couldn't get it off quick enough and the damage was done, I got a flat. As I was changing the flat it finally dawned on this Northern boy that the road was melting from the heat!

I liked this alternative route and I'll through it into my commute every so often. It offers about 1000 feet more climbing compared to my other route. It is a little over a mile shorter and has less traffic for the most part as well.

Now that I've been riding in 100+ degree heat I think it's safe to say I'm getting acclimated to the Texas heat. Hopefully when winter rolls around I'll still have thick enough skin so I can still ride in shorts and short sleeve jerseys when it drops into the 40s (If you can call that winter). Last winter everybody thought I was crazy when I'd show up for group rides dressed in shorts and a short sleeve jersey.