Any long ride/climb advice?



dterner1

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Mar 9, 2005
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Hey! Did my first century June 5 and had fun -- just under 6 hours. Next Saturday it is 120 miles through three mountain passes here in Colorado, and I'm wondering whether anyone has any long ride/climbing advice? I've been doing long rides, and of course, climbs... tomorrow in fact I hope to do two legs of next week's ride.
Anything else? I heard that what one carries on climbs has more of an effect than on more level rides... but apart from that, anything I should know? This is my first year of doing long rides, and I'm signed up for one in August (Tour de Steamboat, century), maybe a RAT CSU Ride (century) in September, and one in Oct 7-9 (Moab Century Tour), and a hill climb at the end of this month (Mt. Evans).
Am I overdoing it? I really enjoy the rides, and while I get a little concerned as I lose a lot of weight during the rides (even on a normal day, when I ride 75 miles, I drop 8 to 9 lbs of water during the ride), I sit around drinking recovery stuff and wolfing down power bars...
Anyway, would love some advice/tips..... I joined the ACA here and am taking their bicycle handlings clinic every two weeks, which is killer fun....
:)
Thanks in advance for any steerage.
:)
Dave
 
dterner1 said:
Hey! Did my first century June 5 and had fun -- just under 6 hours. Next Saturday it is 120 miles through three mountain passes here in Colorado, and I'm wondering whether anyone has any long ride/climbing advice? I've been doing long rides, and of course, climbs... tomorrow in fact I hope to do two legs of next week's ride.
Anything else? I heard that what one carries on climbs has more of an effect than on more level rides... but apart from that, anything I should know? This is my first year of doing long rides, and I'm signed up for one in August (Tour de Steamboat, century), maybe a RAT CSU Ride (century) in September, and one in Oct 7-9 (Moab Century Tour), and a hill climb at the end of this month (Mt. Evans).
Am I overdoing it? I really enjoy the rides, and while I get a little concerned as I lose a lot of weight during the rides (even on a normal day, when I ride 75 miles, I drop 8 to 9 lbs of water during the ride), I sit around drinking recovery stuff and wolfing down power bars...
Anyway, would love some advice/tips..... I joined the ACA here and am taking their bicycle handlings clinic every two weeks, which is killer fun....
:)
Thanks in advance for any steerage.
:)
Dave
Personally, I enjoy climbing so I'm sort of jealous. One week to prepare isn't much time, but I would do a couple of rides of long (e.g., 1-3 hrs), continuous intensity. The easiest ways to do this are long climbs or ride directly into a strong wind on the flat. It's pretty easy to see the difference between a long, sustained climb compared with a ride on flat or rolling terrain when you look at your PM files. It's amazing how much of the time we are putting out a low intensity on typical rides (due to downhill sections or drafting). In a group ride today, I noticed that I was putting out 330w when I was pulling and only 135w when I was drafting. On long climbs, I tend to not only put out a much higher intensity (1.5x - 2x) but it's continuous. At least mentally, I think this requires some adaptation and the best way to get that is to do long climbs. So, it's a good idea to ride part of the course. Apart from that, work on climbing off the saddle in a relaxed form, especially your upper body. I find it helpful to get off the saddle from time to time to put my back in a little different position and to give my seat a little break. Off the saddle, let gravity (i.e., your body weight) do all the work and relax your upper body. Maybe others can offer advice on nutrition. I don't eat or drink anything different, just maybe more of it. You might want to check out some of the Hammer Nutrition products. I use their electrolyte tablets, but they have a number of other products.
 
dterner1 said:
Hey! Did my first century June 5 and had fun -- just under 6 hours. Next Saturday it is 120 miles through three mountain passes here in Colorado, and I'm wondering whether anyone has any long ride/climbing advice? I've been doing long rides, and of course, climbs... tomorrow in fact I hope to do two legs of next week's ride.
I'm heading your way for the Triple Bypass next week as well. I agree with the previous post that you're not going to be able to do much in a week, and I've been training with that ride in mind since the first of the year. Of course, I'm coming from Kansas City, so I'll have the altitude working against me in addition to gravity. I rode a century a couple days ago, but I was planning to taper down this week with some short rides at altitude to try to get acclimated.
 
Thanks, RapDaddyo!

Today I did Squaw and Juniper Passes with a friend, taking your advice to heart. I plan on doing some more this week, with Lookout Mountain being the steepest...
And thank you for the out of saddle advice too. After about 30 miles, I got really sore and standing up DID help. Shifting to a higher gear (as I pedal faster out of the saddle) helped too. :)
I have Hammer Gel, and a variety of small gel packs, as well as the Crank Brothers electrolyte tubes... so I guess I'll be testing them out on the climbs.
Found the wind high up really cools me down too, so while I was in my 85% of TA range most of the time, and was able to sustain my pace, I sweat a bit, so the sweat evaporates, and I really cool down... 'had to put on a gortex light wind-cheater..
:)
THANKS again!
Dave


RapDaddyo said:
Personally, I enjoy climbing so I'm sort of jealous. One week to prepare isn't much time, but I would do a couple of rides of long (e.g., 1-3 hrs), continuous intensity. The easiest ways to do this are long climbs or ride directly into a strong wind on the flat. It's pretty easy to see the difference between a long, sustained climb compared with a ride on flat or rolling terrain when you look at your PM files. It's amazing how much of the time we are putting out a low intensity on typical rides (due to downhill sections or drafting). In a group ride today, I noticed that I was putting out 330w when I was pulling and only 135w when I was drafting. On long climbs, I tend to not only put out a much higher intensity (1.5x - 2x) but it's continuous. At least mentally, I think this requires some adaptation and the best way to get that is to do long climbs. So, it's a good idea to ride part of the course. Apart from that, work on climbing off the saddle in a relaxed form, especially your upper body. I find it helpful to get off the saddle from time to time to put my back in a little different position and to give my seat a little break. Off the saddle, let gravity (i.e., your body weight) do all the work and relax your upper body. Maybe others can offer advice on nutrition. I don't eat or drink anything different, just maybe more of it. You might want to check out some of the Hammer Nutrition products. I use their electrolyte tablets, but they have a number of other products.
 
Hey frenchyge,
Yeah, Kansas is down a bit, so you will have to adapt to the altitude, that's for certain.....
:)
I've been doing long daily 60- 75 mile rides with a climb at the end (Chatfield Reservoir and Deer Creek Canyon), but the long sustained climb that RapDaddyo advised really helped. If you get here before the 9th, I really would suggest trying a few of them, they'll acclimate you to the long steady push.
Wow... so you are training for this one all year? AWESOME. I'm parking at Avon, sleeping over at Evergreen, and hoping to make the party in Avon as much fun as possible.
I like the centuries, as they get your body ready for long endurance efforts, but from today's climb I'm going to have to agree with RapDaddyo... nothing beats preparing for climbing, like climbing.
:)
My number is 0221 and it says Team Evergreen on it too.
Hope to see you on the ride, or the party afterwads.
Dave


frenchyge said:
I'm heading your way for the Triple Bypass next week as well. I agree with the previous post that you're not going to be able to do much in a week, and I've been training with that ride in mind since the first of the year. Of course, I'm coming from Kansas City, so I'll have the altitude working against me in addition to gravity. I rode a century a couple days ago, but I was planning to taper down this week with some short rides at altitude to try to get acclimated.
 
dterner1 said:
Found the wind high up really cools me down too, so while I was in my 85% of TA range most of the time, and was able to sustain my pace, I sweat a bit, so the sweat evaporates, and I really cool down... 'had to put on a gortex light wind-cheater..
Hey, Dave. Good idea about the wind cheater. I forgot all about the temp change. It'll be an even bigger deal on the downhill sections near the top -- you'll freeze! I can't recall the average temp change per 1K feet, but I think it's about 5.5 degrees F per 1K feet! So, on your first climb (~4K feet) the temp will drop about 22 degrees. You might want to keep pedaling on the downhills even if you don't have any resistance, just to keep from cooling down so much. I checked out the topography of your ride. It's really, really fortunate that your steepest climb is the first one, and the second and third climbs are long but less steep (on average). It would be MUCH harder if it were the reverse order. I hope you guys have good weather. Enjoy the ride and enjoy the views. I am SO jealous! Let us know after the ride how it went. Paul
 
Hey Paul,
I'll write you after recuperating on Sunday morning. There's supposed to be a nice BBQ & party at Avon after the ride... and I am looking forward to it.
Sorry you can't do it this year. :)
Dave

RapDaddyo said:
Hey, Dave. Good idea about the wind cheater. I forgot all about the temp change. It'll be an even bigger deal on the downhill sections near the top -- you'll freeze! I can't recall the average temp change per 1K feet, but I think it's about 5.5 degrees F per 1K feet! So, on your first climb (~4K feet) the temp will drop about 22 degrees. You might want to keep pedaling on the downhills even if you don't have any resistance, just to keep from cooling down so much. I checked out the topography of your ride. It's really, really fortunate that your steepest climb is the first one, and the second and third climbs are long but less steep (on average). It would be MUCH harder if it were the reverse order. I hope you guys have good weather. Enjoy the ride and enjoy the views. I am SO jealous! Let us know after the ride how it went. Paul
 
dterner1 said:
Hey Paul,
I'll write you after recuperating on Sunday morning. There's supposed to be a nice BBQ & party at Avon after the ride... and I am looking forward to it.
Sorry you can't do it this year. :)
Dave
Hey Dave,
I'll be thinking of you and frenchyge. All this talk of climbing has me salivating. I may have to go climb Mt. Charleston on Saturday. Have a great ride and maybe I'll get you guys to join me on the Death Ride next year.
 
dterner1 said:
Hey Paul,
I'll write you after recuperating on Sunday morning. There's supposed to be a nice BBQ & party at Avon after the ride... and I am looking forward to it.
Sorry you can't do it this year. :)
Dave
Hey Dave,
I made some discoveries today about long climbs that I thought I'd share with you. Today was a recovery ride for me following a very hard day of intervals yesterday (40 mile ride with :20 warmup followed by 5 min repeat intervals in zone 5 w/ 5 min recovery following each interval). Usually I do my recovery rides on the flat, but today I took a nice little 47 mile rolling route to Lake Mead. I was very careful with my pace to stay within zone 2, so I was watching my PM very carefully, especially on the hills. I noticed that EVERY time I started up a grade that my watts got well above my goal. I mean, like 40w over my upper end goal. I had to gear down and settle into my desired power, but I noticed that it crept over the target during each climb if I didn't monitor it continuously. This wasn't true on the flat or downhill, only on the climbs. I cross-checked my HR a few times and my HR really didn't pick up on this. I gave this some thought during the ride and afterwards and here's my theory. My mind just wasn't accepting of the slowdown in bike speed when I started up a hill. Somehow, I was unconsciously thinking, "This is too slow. You need to pick up the pace." In a century, this increase in my desired pace would have eventually taken its toll. I also thought about the question, "What if I didn't have a PM?" I have a HAC4 with climb grade% on it and I think I would make up a little table to carry in my jersey pocket with my speeds at each grade from 1% to 10% at my desired watts. Then I'd use my speedo to regulate my intensity. Maybe I'm unique in picking up the pace unintentionally when I climb, but I just thought I'd pass on this small observation. Have a good ride. Paul
 
Hey Paul,
Well, the Triple was a lot of fun! Someone took a spill around Georgetown, but apart from that, and the fact that some local yokels put tacks on Sqaw Pass (which really annoyed a lot of the earliest of the starters), pretty uneventful. Lots of fun climbing, though! And the descent from Vail Pass was awesome -- overtook cars and had a lot of fun on my Orbea.. 'found a bunch of other Orbea owners, and we rode together a bit. Then a paceline at the end with some faster riders, which was neat... coming into the finish line after 17 miles of downhill from Vail to Avon.....
Hope you had a great weekend. I'll see if I can figure out how to measure the gradient here with my paltry S150 HRM/odometer.... Now it is training for the Mt. Evans Hillclimb on the 23rd.
:)
Dave



RapDaddyo said:
Hey Dave,
I made some discoveries today about long climbs that I thought I'd share with you. Today was a recovery ride for me following a very hard day of intervals yesterday (40 mile ride with :20 warmup followed by 5 min repeat intervals in zone 5 w/ 5 min recovery following each interval). Usually I do my recovery rides on the flat, but today I took a nice little 47 mile rolling route to Lake Mead. I was very careful with my pace to stay within zone 2, so I was watching my PM very carefully, especially on the hills. I noticed that EVERY time I started up a grade that my watts got well above my goal. I mean, like 40w over my upper end goal. I had to gear down and settle into my desired power, but I noticed that it crept over the target during each climb if I didn't monitor it continuously. This wasn't true on the flat or downhill, only on the climbs. I cross-checked my HR a few times and my HR really didn't pick up on this. I gave this some thought during the ride and afterwards and here's my theory. My mind just wasn't accepting of the slowdown in bike speed when I started up a hill. Somehow, I was unconsciously thinking, "This is too slow. You need to pick up the pace." In a century, this increase in my desired pace would have eventually taken its toll. I also thought about the question, "What if I didn't have a PM?" I have a HAC4 with climb grade% on it and I think I would make up a little table to carry in my jersey pocket with my speeds at each grade from 1% to 10% at my desired watts. Then I'd use my speedo to regulate my intensity. Maybe I'm unique in picking up the pace unintentionally when I climb, but I just thought I'd pass on this small observation. Have a good ride. Paul
 
dterner1 said:
Hey Paul,
Well, the Triple was a lot of fun! Someone took a spill around Georgetown, but apart from that, and the fact that some local yokels put tacks on Sqaw Pass (which really annoyed a lot of the earliest of the starters), pretty uneventful. Lots of fun climbing, though! And the descent from Vail Pass was awesome -- overtook cars and had a lot of fun on my Orbea.. 'found a bunch of other Orbea owners, and we rode together a bit. Then a paceline at the end with some faster riders, which was neat... coming into the finish line after 17 miles of downhill from Vail to Avon.....
Hope you had a great weekend. I'll see if I can figure out how to measure the gradient here with my paltry S150 HRM/odometer.... Now it is training for the Mt. Evans Hillclimb on the 23rd.
:)
Dave
Hey Dave,
Awesome! Thanks for the ride report. Glad it went well and that you had good weather. Now is when I really wish you had a PM, so you could give us some pacing data. How did you stay warm on the descents? What kind of pace did you maintain on the three climbs?
Paul
 
Sorry for the long hiatus, RapDaddyo, am an atty and was swamped with work, and little time to ride.

That Triple ByPass was just the start. I kinda got addicted to doing centuries after that, and instead of doing one a month, started one a weekend. It got so bad(good) that I did the Tour de Steamboat http://www.rockypeakproductions.com/Tour%20de%20Steamboat%20site/, Buffalo Classic https://aacnt.colorado.edu/bbc/index.asp, the Ride for 65 Roses http://www.ridefor65roses.com/,
the road Ramble down in Larkspur http://www.roadramble.com/ ;
the Moab Century Tour
http://www.skinnytirefestival.com/century/century.html, and then one up in Heber Valley, UT (nice climb at the start of it) http://www.bike2bike.biz/Rides/HeberValleyCenturySeptember302006/tabid/46/Default.aspx
(this is a link to the one in 2006, but the one this years was fun!!!).
:)
I am looking forward to the Santa Fe Century. Met a lot of people who said there's a killer climb involved..
http://www.santafecentury.com/

So I sort of went for it and really enjoy riding now..
Even signed up for some cool coaching and testing at the ATP up in Evergreen.
And I even clean my bike now, went through four chains this year (and about 3000 miles all totalled, if my Polar isn't fibbing)..
:)
I get in a nice Saturday ride of 72.5 miles, and another one Sunday. Today, nada... but tomorrow I have bumfed off my clients in the morning hours, and will take a long ride with toughies and slime tubes (the thorns are really doing their level best to puncture my tubes, but I have learned how to patch, too...
:)
Anyway, this is an AWESOME sport.
Downside: early morning starts for centuries... I FREEZE my fingertips off, and don't get my heartrate above 145 until the sun comes up.
But hey, for my first year ever cycling seriously, this was FUN.
:)
Nothing like the head and cross wind on the Moab Century Tour. Even the guys and gals from the JR Engineering Team felt that headwind on the return leg from the long loop.
:)
Dave


RapDaddyo said:
Hey Dave,
Awesome! Thanks for the ride report. Glad it went well and that you had good weather. Now is when I really wish you had a PM, so you could give us some pacing data. How did you stay warm on the descents? What kind of pace did you maintain on the three climbs?
Paul
 
Hey Dave,

Thanks for the great update. You really got into it! BTW, in case you don't have this link, you might enjoy some of these rides http://www.caltriplecrown.com/schedule.htm. Like CO, CA is blessed with some awesome climbs. Also, by any chance are you a patent attorney? Paul
 
Thanks for the link Paul,

I will try and make it out there for a few of those rides this coming season/year. Sadly, no, I am not a patent attorney, you have to pass a special Bar for this (and usually PAs are engineers for a good grounding in science)
:)
Dave


RapDaddyo said:
Hey Dave,

Thanks for the great update. You really got into it! BTW, in case you don't have this link, you might enjoy some of these rides http://www.caltriplecrown.com/schedule.htm. Like CO, CA is blessed with some awesome climbs. Also, by any chance are you a patent attorney? Paul