Mike's Bike Blog

Today I did battle with Smokey Valley, one on one, man versus hill. I've ridden most if not all the monster hills Austin has to offer (Jester, Beauford, Bluegrass, Lost Creek, Courtyard, City Park, Toro Canyon, the 3 Sisters). Not at any point up any of those hills did I once think I might have to bail out. Today that thought crossed my mind.

Smokey Valley is not long by any stretch, it's only .3 miles in length, but the grade is what will get you. The average grade is 13.2% and swoops up to 19.6% at the top. Other hills seem to have roughly about the same grade, but no other hill have I had to resort to the Zig Zag technique to get to the top. If you are not familiar with the zig zag, it is when you go up the hill at an angle not straight on.

One thing that might have contributed to the difficulty is the fact that I'm still having shifting problems when I go into my lowest gear on the rear cassette, I can't shift back up. So I haven't been shifting down. I'll have to give Smokey Valley another go next week and see if I find it as butt kicking as I did today.

See the image below as my Garmin recorded my ride, note the zig zagging at the top of Smokey Valley:

We were truly blessed with wonderful weather today, it was absolutely perfect. It was a tad windy, but I didn't think it was too bad, it was definitely better than when I rode the route last August and not nearly as windy as last year.

I had the goal of riding a century in 5 hours and 30 minutes. To tell you the truth I didn't think today was going to be the day. At the end of my ride in Thursday my knee started to ache a little. Friday it didn't go away so I didn't ride at all. This morning when I woke up it wasn't sore at all, for the first 50 miles I didn't want to push it, I averaged 17.7. At about mile 30 I some how pulled away from Dan and Jared, they were gabbing about mountain bikes and the next thing I know they are no longer behind me. I jumped in with a few other riders and we took turns pulling and then by Bartlett it was just me and a lady with a Fleet Feet kit. We rode together till a bit after the Granger Lake rest stop. I was doing the math in my head and if I averaged 20 mph I could come in around 5:30. I was feeling really good so I decided to push it up to 22+.

The second 50 miles I ended up averaging 19 mph, which isn't bad considering the last 50 has a lot of sections into the wind. I sprinted to the finish at 5:20:23, my active on the bike time was 05:12:04.

Next time a sub 5 hour time!

 

This is a really great story of Svein Tuft from his humble beginnings to the Bejing Olympics.

If you've been following along you know one of my goals is to ride up the hill on Limecreek (the 3 Sisters) in 3 minutes and 30 seconds. On Saturday I rode up it in 3 minutes and 35 seconds. Today I rode out Limecreek for a couple of climbs up the Sisters.

 

My first go up it I clocked a time of 3 minutes and 30.38 seconds! Thus by rounding down, which I'm told is the norm, I've met the goal! I'm pretty stoked, now it's time to get it even lower. I'm thinking 3 minutes flat.

Even though there was a burn ban in effect I was on fire going up the Sisters!

This week I only racked up 124 miles. On Sunday I brought out the mountain bike and road the trails around my house for 6 miles. That was a great change of pace. The entire week was a bit different than what I have been doing. Going forward for the rest of the month Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be my intense workouts. They will be short yet focused, I'll alternate hills with intervals. Back to this week though, On Monday I was able to get out on Limecreek for a 15 miler. I hit the hill and made it up in 3 minutes and 46 seconds, which is 1 second off my personal best. I really attacked from the base, I set a 1 minute Peak Power Record at 501 watts. However, I went to hard at the base and could feel it on the other sisters.

On Tuesday I did my Graystone/ 360 / Mesa route route. As soon as I get up to Mesa and Graystone I start the timer and do a 20 or 30 minute Time Trial. The goal is to keep my power at or above my function threshold power. On tuesday I went for a 20 minute effort. I set a Peak Power Record at the 5 minute mark on the ride (336 watts).

Wednesday I went out on Mesa and did 4 climbing repeat intervals. Once again on this day I set a Peak Power Record at the 10 minute mark at 307.

Thursday I was back on doing the Graystone / 360 / Mesa route, this time a 30 minute effort. Thursdays ride felt really good, it was hard, but the effort felt like it went a lot better than the Tuesday ride. On Tuesday I seemed to struggle a bit to keep my power and speed up. For the 3rd time this week I set a Peak Power Record. This ride at 10 minutes the power was 307 and 30 minutes at 263. The normalized power for the ride was 305.

Now for today's ride, I got a late start so my plan of riding out to Volente twice was cut in half. I only had time for 1 time out and back. Since I only was going to do it once I wanted to make it count. For the first 10 miles out to Volente on Limecreek I averaged 20.31 mph. On the return trip I averaged 18.14 mph.

On the way down to Volente about 2 miles from Volente Beach I passed a guy on a mountain bike heading the other way. Judging from the squeaks coming from his bike I estimated I'd catch up to him around the Sisters. I nailed it right on, I caught him and passed him right at the base of the Sisters. Since I learned a good lesson of not going out too hard at the base after some pleasantries with the guy on the mountain bike I proceeded to jump out of the saddle and head up the hill, but not too hard. Before I knew it I was at the top of the 2nd Sister. As I'm going up the final Sister I thought to myself how much flatter the hill felt today. It was really crazy, but the hill didn't look as steep as I crested and hit the lap on my Garmin I almost fell over when it showed my time up the hill was 3 minutes and 35 seconds! I'm 5 seconds of from my goal time of 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

That was a great way to cap off a good week. Tomorrow I hope to get out for a long distance tune up before the Outlaw Trail 100.