Mike's Bike Blog

On Friday for lunch I did the Volente Circle route. It was a very windy day, the first 1/2 was right into the wind I only averaged 16.99 mph. The second 1/2 was a lot better where I averaged 18.38 mph. The climb up the Limecreek hill took 4:23, which is 2 seconds off my best time and I averaged 7.3 mph on the climb. Heart rate was 165/176 bpm. Cadence was 62/102 rpm. The overall time was 1:11:13.

Today I got out again, but this time I went out to Volente and then came back doing an out and back. This was my second hill ride for the day but I felt good, at least heading out to Volente. The time to Volente took 31:55, which is the fastest split time I've had. Now coming back was another story. Getting back took 38:53. The Limecreek hill portion took 4:32, averaged 6.94 mph, heart rate was 163/177 bmp, cadence 65/94 rpm. The overall time was 1:10:48, which isn't too far off of my best time for this route of 1:09:30. Not bad for the second ride of the day. I did try out my new positioning on the hill climbs. On the Limecreek hill sitting back on the saddle did have an odd effect on the steep grades, as I was sitting back on the saddle and pushing more with my quads the front tire felt like it was coming off the pavement. Normally when I'm going up the hills I'm pulling more with hamstrings on the bottom of my stroke. With this new position I'm still getting the hamstring pull but now I feel like I have more on the down stroke with my quads.

I'm going to spend the next 4 weeks hitting as many hill workouts as I can so I should have enough time during this period to hone my climbing skills. 

This was the first time I've done the full circle to Volente. I typically will go down Limecreek Road to Volente and then back. The main reason I hadn't done the full circle is because I'm a little leary of riding on 2769 between Bullick Hollow and DIes Ranch Road. Last summer they worked on the shoulders of this stretch of road adding a bit to the right of the white line. Also since the road from Twin Creeks now extends to 2769 the total length of riding on 2769 has been cut. I went clockwise on the circle, I did this so I could go up the big hill on Limecreek, it's about 100 feet more than the hill in Twin Creeks over the same 1/2 mile distance. 

As I came down from Twin Creeks a group of 4 riders passed me, I quickly caught up with the 2 leaders as they were waiting for their 2 buddies in the back. As we passed the Bullick Hollow turn off I took the lead and kept the pace at 18 mph and pulled away from them as we hit the hills. I ended up doing the circle twice. My overall time for the 39.09 miles was 2:18:55. I didn't track my time up the Limecreek hill, since I knew I was doing the course twice I knew I was going to need to have energy left so I didn't try to push it up the hill. I know the first time up didn't hurt as bad as the second time. Lap 1 took 1:06:59 and I averaged 17.2 mph,  149/175bpm, 79/115rpm, total climb of 1734.7. Lap 2 took 1:07:20 and I averaged 16.88 mph, 145/170bpm, 81/178rpm, total climb 1576.4.

I'm pretty happy with the 2 laps, the times were very close so I didn't lose too much power for lap 2. I felt really strong and on certain hills in the past I've slowed down to 14 or 15 mph but this time I kept my speeds up to 18 to 20 mph! I'm not sure why but the mileage between lap 1 & 2 are different, plus the climb for both are almost 200 ft off. The distance between the 2 is .26 miles and I can see that as when I passed the start I went a slightly different way instead of turning around. But that doesn't account for the 200 feet difference. The total climb was 3397 feet. Other noteworthy  items for this ride is it was the first time I'd used Hammer's Sustained product. I mixed up a bottle to give it a try even though I figured I wouldn't be out past 2.5 hours. I used Hammer Perpeteum in the Hill Hopper last month. I think I prefer the unflavored Sustained over the citrus Perpeteum. I also had an Apple Cinnemon Hammer Gel about 15 minutes before my 2nd ascent up the Limecreek hill.  Hopefully next time I can get in at least 3 laps. 

See the route on MapMyRide.com 

I found a great site for cycling tips, Cycling Performance Tips. I went straight to the Climbing Hills section to get their perspective. First thing I don't fit the mold for a pro tour racer, I'm not 5'10 and 156 lbs, far from it. I'm 5'11 and 207 pounds. I do plan to be down to 185-190 for my attempt at the Tour Das Hugel but still far from the Pro Tour riders and I'm sure the climbing specialists are well below the 156 pound mark. Doing the math my ideal climbing weight would be 144 lbs. I think I weighed that in 7th grade! There might still be hope for me though, Miguel Indurain was more my size and he did just fine, I just need to keep working on getting more power and practicing on the hills.

The article has good tactics and tips for training. I won't rehash it, you can read it for yourself. It does give some advice on the climbing volume I should be working up to for completing the Tour Das Hugel. I should aim to climb at least 60% of event elevation change volume on several rides. The Tour Das Hugel has a total climb elevation of 14,600 feet X 60% = 8760. That means I have to do the LimeCreek 1/2 mile hill 33 times to equal the  60% (8760 feet) of the 14,600 feet.

Today is a nice day, 66 degrees not too windy, a perfect day for a ride. When I went out I wasn't planning on pushing it too hard I didn't think I would have much in the tank after yesterdays long ride, but everything seemed to come together. I was able to move up the small roller up Limecreek pretty effortlessly. It continued like this all the way to Volente. I didn't have my forerunner set to show overall time, it was only displaying cadence, speed, distance and heart rate. I figured I was at least on pace for my current best of 1:12. Once I hit the hill and started up it I still felt good. I pushed hard at the base, maybe too hard as I was really feeling it later on up the hill but as I crested the top and hit the lap button on the forerunner and 4:41 showed up. That's the best time so far up the hill by 21 seconds. I was a bit out of gas for the last 3 miles, the rollers seemed to really take their toll, looking at the times the first 3 miles took me 9:59, and coming back the same 3 miles took 11:44. 

The overall ride was 1:09:30! that's 3 minutes better than my previous best that I set 1/12/08 

Check it out on MotionBased.com, click on player and you can watch the ride plotted on a map. I love this feature of MotionBased.com. I only wish you could watch it at real time, all the settings are faster like watching it in fast forward. I want to see it in real time so I could use it for training. I could have a laptop near the trainer and mimic the resistance and speed. 

This morning I did the 20 mile ride out to Volente Beach and back. I felt really good, the weather was warm and the wind wasn't bad either. I completed the 20 miles in 1:12:37 which is a personal best. My previous best time was 01:13:18 and on that ride I had a riding partner to push me. I made it up the hill in 5:02, which is the same exact time that I did it in when I did my baseline on the 6th.

Average Speed: 16.6 mph (17.5 there/16.7 back)
Max Speed: 40.4 mph
Average Heart Rate: 156bpm
Max Heart Rate: 178bpm
Avg Cadence: 76 rpm
Ascent: 1552ft
Descent: 1575ft