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
