Mt. Diablo Challenge Training

Hi all,

I did the Mt. Diablo Challenge ride last year, for those not familiar with it, it's about 10.8 mile
race up a 3,800 foot mountain. Anyway I did in last year on my mountain bike and made it up in about
1 hour 20 minutes. This year I want to do in under 1 hour(and i will have a road bike). I was just
wondering if other's have done it under 1 hour and what would you recommend for training and a
training schedule(How far in advance did you start training..... I am planning to do some centuries
and endurance rides this season but probably no real races. BTW I know the race is in late
Sept/early October, but it's never too early to prepare. Plus I am very anal!

Thanks for your help in advance, Paul

 

I used to do it every weekend, twice in a row. Up to the tower, down to bottom and back up to the
tower. Good climb, fun, not too hard. Do it twice for a nice workout. I can't remember my time, but
I think it was under an hour. 10.8, been quite a while, I thought it was less then that. Try Mt.
Hamilton starting from Alum Rock road for a longer climb. I never did that twice in a row, but I
thought about it.

Bruce
--------------------------------
"Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hi all,
>
> I did the Mt. Diablo Challenge ride last year, for those not familiar with it, it's about 10.8
> mile race up a 3,800 foot mountain. Anyway I did in last year on my mountain bike and made it up
> in about 1 hour 20 minutes. This year I want to do in under 1 hour(and i will have a road bike). I
> was just wondering if other's have done it under 1 hour and what would you recommend for training
> and a training schedule(How far in advance did you start training..... I am planning to do some
> centuries and endurance rides this season but probably no real races. BTW I know the race is in
> late Sept/early October, but it's never too early to prepare. Plus I am very anal!
>
> Thanks for your help in advance, Paul

 

Bruce Johnston wrote:

> I used to do it every weekend, twice in a row. Up to the tower, down to bottom and back up to the
> tower. Good climb, fun, not too hard. Do it twice for a nice workout. I can't remember my time,
> but I think it was under an hour. 10.8, been quite a while, I thought it was less then that. Try
> Mt. Hamilton starting from Alum Rock road for a longer climb. I never did that twice in a row, but
> I thought about it.
>
> Bruce
> --------------------------------
> "Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I did the Mt. Diablo Challenge ride last year, for those not familiar with it, it's about 10.8
>> mile race up a 3,800 foot mountain. Anyway I did in last year on my mountain bike and made it up
>> in about 1 hour 20 minutes. This year I want to do in under 1 hour(and i will have a road bike).
>> I was just wondering if other's have done it under 1 hour and what would you recommend for
>> training and a training schedule(How far in advance did you start training..... I am planning to
>> do some centuries and endurance rides this season but probably no real races. BTW I know the race
>> is in late Sept/early October, but it's never too early to prepare. Plus I am very anal!
>>
>> Thanks for your help in advance, Paul

Oh Bruce...

Thanks for the memories of Mt. Hamilton. Attempted the ride about 4 years ago on a trup to SJ. Made
it about halfway up (this was on an unusually nice day in Jan) and had to turn around due to ice
and snow on the road. Hell of a view though! I need to make a trip down to SIlly Valley and
complete the climb...

Joe
--

I don't herd cats anymore. All you end up with are scratches and a bunch of pissed off cats.

 

"spam hater" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Bruce Johnston wrote:
>
> > I used to do it every weekend, twice in a row. Up to the tower, down to bottom and back up to
> > the tower. Good climb, fun, not too hard. Do it twice for a nice workout. I can't remember my
> > time, but I think it was under an hour. 10.8, been quite a while, I thought it was less then
that.
> > Try Mt. Hamilton starting from Alum Rock road for a longer climb. I
never
> > did that twice in a row, but I thought about it.
> >
> > Bruce
> > --------------------------------
> > "Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> I did the Mt. Diablo Challenge ride last year, for those not familiar with it, it's about 10.8
> >> mile race up a 3,800 foot mountain. Anyway I did in last year on my mountain bike and made it
> >> up in about 1 hour 20 minutes. This year I want to do in under 1 hour(and i will have a road
> >> bike). I was just wondering if other's have done it under 1 hour and what would you recommend
> >> for training and a training schedule(How far in advance did you start training..... I am
> >> planning to do some centuries and endurance rides this season but probably no real races. BTW I
> >> know the race is in late Sept/early October, but it's never too early to prepare. Plus I am
> >> very anal!
> >>
> >> Thanks for your help in advance, Paul
>
> Oh Bruce...
>
> Thanks for the memories of Mt. Hamilton. Attempted the ride about 4 years ago on a trup to SJ.
> Made it about halfway up (this was on an unusually nice day in Jan) and had to turn around due to
> ice and snow on the road. Hell of a view though! I need to make a trip down to SIlly Valley and
> complete the climb...
>
> Joe
> --
>
> I don't herd cats anymore. All you end up with are scratches and a bunch of pissed off cats.

----------------------------
I used to work graveyard and at daybreak I would throw my bike in the car and head off to Mt.
Hamilton. I have done it more times then I can remember. That climb is so much fun, great workout
and great scenery. I did the Hamilton challenge, passed a ton of guys on the way up. Loads of fun,
once I got stuck in a snow storm on the way up and made it to the top, but I had to take the car
back down and pick up some riders stuck in the snow. Another time I drove up at night just to see
the lights over San Jose. For those who haven't seen it at night, it's worth the drive up from San
Jose at night. That has got to be one of the most awesome views of city lights at night.

Bruce

 

"Bruce Johnston" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> I used to work graveyard and at daybreak I would throw my bike in the car and head off to Mt.
> Hamilton. I have done it more times then I can
remember.
> That climb is so much fun, great workout and great scenery. I did the Hamilton challenge, passed a
> ton of guys on the way up. Loads of fun, once
I
> got stuck in a snow storm on the way up and made it to the top, but I had
to
> take the car back down and pick up some riders stuck in the snow. Another time I drove up at night
> just to see the lights over San Jose. For those
who
> haven't seen it at night, it's worth the drive up from San Jose at night. That has got to be one
> of the most awesome views of city lights at night.
>
> Bruce

What is the average gradient of Mt Hamilton?

 

I don't remember because it's been quite a while since I have done Hamilton, but it's not bad. It's
just a long steady 18 mile climb. Towards the end, I remember the last few miles gets steeper.

You can probably look that up online with topo maps.

Bruce
-------------------------------------
"bosaci" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> "Bruce Johnston" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> >
> > I used to work graveyard and at daybreak I would throw my bike in the
car
> > and head off to Mt. Hamilton. I have done it more times then I can
> remember.
> > That climb is so much fun, great workout and great scenery. I did the Hamilton challenge, passed
> > a ton of guys on the way up. Loads of fun,
once
> I
> > got stuck in a snow storm on the way up and made it to the top, but I
had
> to
> > take the car back down and pick up some riders stuck in the snow.
Another
> > time I drove up at night just to see the lights over San Jose. For those
> who
> > haven't seen it at night, it's worth the drive up from San Jose at
night.
> > That has got to be one of the most awesome views of city lights at
night.
> >
> > Bruce
>
> What is the average gradient of Mt Hamilton?

 

There is a huge difference between riding Diablo in 1:20 and riding it under and hour. Huge. That
said, if you want to ride it faster, ride the mountain as much as you can. Know every turn. Every
section's grade. Know where to push and where to ease off. Know the top half as well as the bottom.
This summer do the Thursday night training ride from the California Peddlar (or is it leaving from
Pegasus now? Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?) You want to climb Diablo faster, ride Diablo lots. In the
words of Dr. Coggan, "Specificity, specificity, specificity."

I'm a terrible climber. In an attempt to improve I took dr. Coggan's advice last fall and climbed a
ton in the off season. Specifically, I climbed Diablo to the summit every Monday and every Friday. I
did this from November through the end of January. My best time ever was 56 minutes when I was about
28 (40 now). When I would ride the mt this winter, I would just ride endurance pace which usually
put me to the top (from Athenian Lot to the summit sign) in 1:03 - 1:05. Every fifth or sixth climb,
depending on how I was feeling and the weather, I'd push it. In January on a cold day with tons of
clothing on, I did a 57:45 solo. Riding in the fall in a race type situation, I'm pretty confident
that would equate to a 55 or so. My point, I wanted to improve my climbing, so I climbed. Something
I've always avoided. It paid off. I'm climbing better than I ever have. I'm doing races I've always
avoided and I'm hanging with the leaders (35+, 1,2,3) where I used to get dropped. I'm really
looking forward to Sea Otter in two weeks. It didn't come by training with a power unit, by a
lighter wheel set, by chemical additives, by the weight room, or by gut puking intervals or hill
repeats. I just climbed as part of my off season high mileage endurance training.

Good luck. I'll tell you though, sub 1 hr is a lot faster than you think.

Mark VandenBerghe "Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi all,
>
> I did the Mt. Diablo Challenge ride last year, for those not familiar with it, it's about 10.8
> mile race up a 3,800 foot mountain. Anyway I did in last year on my mountain bike and made it up
> in about 1 hour 20 minutes. This year I want to do in under 1 hour(and i will have a road bike). I
> was just wondering if other's have done it under 1 hour and what would you recommend for training
> and a training schedule(How far in advance did you start training..... I am planning to do some
> centuries and endurance rides this season but probably no real races. BTW I know the race is in
> late Sept/early October, but it's never too early to prepare. Plus I am very anal!
>
> Thanks for your help in advance, Paul

 

Another thing I like about the MT. Hamilton challenge is you can show up late, which I did and start
with a long string of riders stretched out all the way up to the top. Since it is a very long climb,
if you are a very good climber you can literally spend the whole ride passing rider after rider,
after rider, all the way to the top. You can watch them marvel at you climbing ability as you pass
them and it's a big shot to your ego! Of course there is always the guy who has to be the first one
to the top, but that wouldn't be as much fun to me since there is nobody in front of the lead rider.
I like the challenge of catching the guy in front of me, and on a long climb like that, it's just
one carrot after another dangling in front of me!

Ha, ha, hee, hee...

Bruce
--------------------------------
"spam hater" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Bruce Johnston wrote:
>
> > I used to do it every weekend, twice in a row. Up to the tower, down to bottom and back up to
> > the tower. Good climb, fun, not too hard. Do it twice for a nice workout. I can't remember my
> > time, but I think it was under an hour. 10.8, been quite a while, I thought it was less then
that.
> > Try Mt. Hamilton starting from Alum Rock road for a longer climb. I
never
> > did that twice in a row, but I thought about it.
> >
> > Bruce
> > --------------------------------
> > "Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> I did the Mt. Diablo Challenge ride last year, for those not familiar with it, it's about 10.8
> >> mile race up a 3,800 foot mountain. Anyway I did in last year on my mountain bike and made it
> >> up in about 1 hour 20 minutes. This year I want to do in under 1 hour(and i will have a road
> >> bike). I was just wondering if other's have done it under 1 hour and what would you recommend
> >> for training and a training schedule(How far in advance did you start training..... I am
> >> planning to do some centuries and endurance rides this season but probably no real races. BTW I
> >> know the race is in late Sept/early October, but it's never too early to prepare. Plus I am
> >> very anal!
> >>
> >> Thanks for your help in advance, Paul
>
> Oh Bruce...
>
> Thanks for the memories of Mt. Hamilton. Attempted the ride about 4 years ago on a trup to SJ.
> Made it about halfway up (this was on an unusually nice day in Jan) and had to turn around due to
> ice and snow on the road. Hell of a view though! I need to make a trip down to SIlly Valley and
> complete the climb...
>
> Joe
> --
>
> I don't herd cats anymore. All you end up with are scratches and a bunch of pissed off cats.

 

Thanks for your help. I know there is going to be a big difference between my 1:20 and sub 1 hour. I
figure using a roadbike from my mountain bike has got to cut down on 5-10 minutes right? Plus I
didn't do too much training last year for this ride. It was my first year doing it so I wanted a
time I could improve on.

Anyway getting back to the details of the training. So when you are training going up Diablo twice a
week are you riding like it's the race and jamming up the hill or are you doing more of an endurance
pace? I think what I'll do is start doing Diablo (and hills in general) a lot these next few months
which would be endurance pace with some intervals and as it comes closer to the race (2 months
before??) start going up at a "race" pace twice a week. Does this sound like a reasonable schedule?

Anyway thanks again for your help.

-Paul

"Mark VandenBerghe" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> There is a huge difference between riding Diablo in 1:20 and riding it under and hour. Huge. That
> said, if you want to ride it faster, ride the mountain as much as you can. Know every turn. Every
> section's grade. Know where to push and where to ease off. Know the top half as well as the
> bottom. This summer do the Thursday night training ride from the California Peddlar (or is it
> leaving from Pegasus now? Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?) You want to climb Diablo faster, ride Diablo
> lots. In the words of Dr. Coggan, "Specificity, specificity, specificity."
>
> I'm a terrible climber. In an attempt to improve I took dr. Coggan's advice last fall and climbed
> a ton in the off season. Specifically, I climbed Diablo to the summit every Monday and every
> Friday. I did this from November through the end of January. My best time ever was 56 minutes when
> I was about 28 (40 now). When I would ride the mt this winter, I would just ride endurance pace
> which usually put me to the top (from Athenian Lot to the summit sign) in 1:03 - 1:05. Every fifth
> or sixth climb, depending on how I was feeling and the weather, I'd push it. In January on a cold
> day with tons of clothing on, I did a 57:45 solo. Riding in the fall in a race type situation, I'm
> pretty confident that would equate to a 55 or so. My point, I wanted to improve my climbing, so I
> climbed. Something I've always avoided. It paid off. I'm climbing better than I ever have. I'm
> doing races I've always avoided and I'm hanging with the leaders (35+, 1,2,3) where I used to get
> dropped. I'm really looking forward to Sea Otter in two weeks. It didn't come by training with a
> power unit, by a lighter wheel set, by chemical additives, by the weight room, or by gut puking
> intervals or hill repeats. I just climbed as part of my off season high mileage endurance
> training.
>
> Good luck. I'll tell you though, sub 1 hr is a lot faster than you think.
>
> Mark VandenBerghe "Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I did the Mt. Diablo Challenge ride last year, for those not familiar with it, it's about 10.8
> > mile race up a 3,800 foot mountain. Anyway I did in last year on my mountain bike and made it up
> > in about 1 hour 20 minutes. This year I want to do in under 1 hour(and i will have a road bike).
> > I was just wondering if other's have done it under 1 hour and what would you recommend for
> > training and a training schedule(How far in advance did you start training..... I am planning to
> > do some centuries and endurance rides this season but probably no real races. BTW I know the
> > race is in late Sept/early October, but it's never too early to prepare. Plus I am very anal!
> >
> > Thanks for your help in advance, Paul

 

I remember being in a Coors race in the early 80's from the North gate. Bob Roll won, in about 45
mins (fastest time to that date, everyone was expecting 55mins to win), Mount was just behind him.
Roll had a 42/23 and Mount got bogged down in a 42/21. Heiden and I were about 10 mins down.

Next day was a Crit in downtown Walnut Creek. Don't remember who won that race, but on Monday Mount
went in for "roid" surgery.

"Paul" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Hi all,
>
> I did the Mt. Diablo Challenge ride last year, for those not familiar with it, it's about 10.8
> mile race up a 3,800 foot mountain. Anyway I did in last year on my mountain bike and made it up
> in about 1 hour 20 minutes. This year I want to do in under 1 hour(and i will have a road bike). I
> was just wondering if other's have done it under 1 hour and what would you recommend for training
> and a training schedule(How far in advance did you start training..... I am planning to do some
> centuries and endurance rides this season but probably no real races. BTW I know the race is in
> late Sept/early October, but it's never too early to prepare. Plus I am very anal!
>
> Thanks for your help in advance, Paul

 

Re: being able to start late. Does everyone's time start with the gun, or do they have a way of timing riders individually as they cross the start line (a "chip" system or whatever)?

 

Your official time will be "from the gun" as you say and it may well be several minutes longer than your actual time from the line depending on how far back you are. There's a limited seeding but there are a lot of wannabees who pack the front too.

Wantagofast... you somebody famous? You still here? I didn't know there was ever a race up North Gate and I didn't know Bob Roll ever did Mt. Diablo. 45 minutes to the Summit from the North Gate kiosk is an impressive ride.

I love this mountain. The Challenge is a benefit race, not sanctioned and it costs a $40 donation.

 

read your ride up diablo but about your slippery decent... my bike did fishtail on a decent and I am
nursing a broken collar bone. if your not racing for money or glory its not worth the risk. without
my helmet I would be dead. from greg over here in san mateo

 

Thanks Diablo Scott. I learned the facts first hand today, now am back at my computer recuperating and reading e-mail. You are (were) correct.

I went out too fast, blew up, & suffered the top 1/3 of the mountain (though I know everyone suffered!) But I beat my best training time by 1.5 minutes, so I'm not unhappy. Also had fun and met some great people! Imagine that!

 

DiabloScott <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

>
> Wantagofast... you somebody famous? You still here? I didn't know there was ever a race up North
> Gate and I didn't know Bob Roll ever did Mt. Diablo. 45 minutes to the Summit from the North Gate
> kiosk is an impressive ride.
>
> I love this mountain. The Challenge is a benefit race, not sanctioned and it costs a $40 donation.

If you buy or borrow it from a library, Bob Roll's first book details his training for and winning
$1000 by being the first to the top of
Mt. Diablo a long time ago...

 

I did this race also..... It was in 1983 and called the Devil's Cup Hillclimb/Classic (or something
like that). 45 minutes sounds right for Bob Roll as I finished 18th somewhere around 50 minutes....
Hugh Walton (Raleigh) won the miss-n-out criterium the next day with Charlie Hollbrook (Eric
Heiden's roommate at the time) and another Raliegh rider whose name escapes me (cyclocross rider).
Charlie and Hugh rode off the front, and the other Raleigh rider bridged.... The whole thing was
televised and pretty cool....

-Sheldon

DiabloScott <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> swpaterson wrote:
> > Re: being able to start late. Does everyone's time start with the gun, or do they have a way
> > of timing riders individually as they cross the start line (a "chip" system or whatever)?
>
>
>
> Your official time will be "from the gun" as you say and it may well be several minutes longer
> than your actual time from the line depending on how far back you are. There's a limited seeding
> but there are a lot of wannabees who pack the front too.
>
> Wantagofast... you somebody famous? You still here? I didn't know there was ever a race up North
> Gate and I didn't know Bob Roll ever did Mt. Diablo. 45 minutes to the Summit from the North Gate
> kiosk is an impressive ride.
>
> I love this mountain. The Challenge is a benefit race, not sanctioned and it costs a $40 donation.

 

swpaterson <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Thanks Diablo Scott. I learned the facts first hand today, now am back at my computer recuperating
> and reading e-mail. You are (were) correct.
>
> I went out too fast, blew up, & suffered the top 1/3 of the mountain (though I know everyone
> suffered!) But I beat my best training time by
> 1.5 minutes, so I'm not unhappy. Also had fun and met some great people! Imagine that!

My first time doing the race as well. I was concerned about conserving energy so I wore my HRM for
the race. I still went harder than I'd planned. There's fantastic energy doing the climb with 1000
other people. The weather was perfect. I did 1:05 this year and will definately be gunning for the
hour next time. More, longer, hills in training, some weights and losing 7-10lbs should do it.

 

"Bob Mercier" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> swpaterson <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > Thanks Diablo Scott. I learned the facts first hand today, now am back at my computer
> > recuperating and reading e-mail. You are (were) correct.
> >
> > I went out too fast, blew up, & suffered the top 1/3 of the mountain (though I know everyone
> > suffered!) But I beat my best training time by
> > 1.5 minutes, so I'm not unhappy. Also had fun and met some great people! Imagine that!
>
> My first time doing the race as well. I was concerned about conserving energy so I wore my HRM for
> the race. I still went harder than I'd planned. There's fantastic energy doing the climb with 1000
> other people. The weather was perfect. I did 1:05 this year and will definately be gunning for the
> hour next time. More, longer, hills in training, some weights and losing 7-10lbs should do it.

It is a fun climb. They used to give out t-shirts if you finished in an hour or less. Do they still
do that? The last time I did that climb during the "event", it was on the first day of what turned
in to a heat wave. It was over 100 degrees by the time I got to the top and since it was late in the
year and cool prior to that, I had no idea why I was so hot until after the race. I thought I caught
a fever. It was a strange experience. It was still great though.

 

WooGoogle wrote:
> DiabloScott <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
>
>
>>Wantagofast... you somebody famous? You still here? I didn't know there was ever a race up North
>>Gate and I didn't know Bob Roll ever did Mt. Diablo. 45 minutes to the Summit from the North Gate
>>kiosk is an impressive ride.
>>
>>I love this mountain. The Challenge is a benefit race, not sanctioned and it costs a $40 donation.
>
>
> If you buy or borrow it from a library, Bob Roll's first book details his training for and winning
> $1000 by being the first to the top of
> Mt. Diablo a long time ago...

Bobke II will be out soon (according to my VN contact) which will include all of Bobke and about 30%
more stuff.

 

"WooGoogle" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> DiabloScott <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
>
> >
> > Wantagofast... you somebody famous? You still here? I didn't know there was ever a race up North
> > Gate and I didn't know Bob Roll ever did Mt. Diablo. 45 minutes to the Summit from the North
> > Gate kiosk is an impressive ride.
> >
> > I love this mountain. The Challenge is a benefit race, not sanctioned and it costs a $40
> > donation.
>
> If you buy or borrow it from a library, Bob Roll's first book details his training for and winning
> $1000 by being the first to the top of
> Mt. Diablo a long time ago...

He finally got published?