Week 39

Date
September 26th, 2012

Distance
100 Miles

Time
5:41:15

Route Map/Profile

Chilcoot, CA to Quincy, CA on CA 70

Weather

Picture

Ride Report
Today was an easy day, mostly for mental recovery from the last few weeks of longer rides. Fall is definitely in the air. The days are getting shorter and the mornings are getting colder. 

Week 38

Date
September 19th, 2012

Distance
200 Miles

Time
12:45:23

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Headed west on 299 near Burney, CA.

Ride Report
The solo double is complete. I was a little nervous going into it, but at the end of the ride I felt better than I have for any other double I've done before. This is partly because (a) the route was the easiest double route I have done and (b) I wasn't chasing other guys and riding above my limits at any point during the day. It wasn't a slow ride (for my ability), but it was more steady than riding with a group and the lack of big climbs/descents made it easy to just get into a groove and go.

My starting point was in the middle of the "+" in the map above. I split the ride into 4 parts, starting with the E-W section, followed by S-N, W-E, and N-S sections. I planned on making each section 50 miles, but as I was riding I decided to throw in some extra miles on the first 3 sections so the last section would be shorter than the rest. The sections ended up being 51, 54, 61, and 34 miles. The wind was only a factor on the third section, and it was stronger than the weather graph would indicate. This is where I found the windmills on 299, so you can bet that wind is often a factor in the area. My average speed shows the difference: for section 3 I only managed 15 mph, while I was able to ride 16.2, 16.1, and 15.8 mph on sections 1, 2, and 4. I'm happy with the 15.8 at the end when you consider that I was riding in the dark for most of that section. I don't have any data from my other doubles, but I'd be willing to bet that my speed usually drops off towards the end more than it did today.

I'm happy with the ride. I may not be all that fast, but I felt good out there and I did well with my pacing and nutrition/hydration. I feel like I did the best ride I could ask for with my current fitness level. This is the latest point in a year that I've done a double, so I'm hoping this will pay off early next year.

Week 37

Date
September 12th, 2012

Distance
158 Miles

Time
10:53:48

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

From Jacks Valley Road in Carson City

Ride Report
Today's route was two rides in one- the Mt. Rose + Kingsbury loop that I've done before and a shorter Six Mile Canyon loop that I like to do on shorter ride days. Similar to last week, I threw in some steep stuff (Six Mile Canyon) towards the end to test the legs.

Double Planning  

I'm happy to report that the double is on. Next week (September 19th) I'll head to Northern California and try to do a solo double. I've done doubles in the past and I'm no stranger to solo riding (all but 3 of my centuries this year have been solo, and those 3 were California Triple Crown doubles), but I have never mixed the two. I don't feel like I should be nervous about it (I know I'm physically capable), but I am. I know that it will be more difficult mentally, and even on a group double I almost always get a strong urge to quit somewhere between 160 and 175 miles in. It's tough to throw in the towel when there are a lot of people around and you know your name will show up on a list with the dreaded DNF next to it. It's never easy, but it's a little bit easier when you're out there by yourself. Even though nobody reads this blog, I hope it can serve as a little bit of extra motivation. I don't want 4 weeks of posts on here about a double that ended up being a failure.

In hopes that a change of scenery will keep the day more interesting, I planned a few routes out of town. I was planning routes as a "+" so I can keep plenty of food and water in the middle and so I'll never be too far away from the car in case things go horribly wrong. I had one good route planned near Ely, NV and another north of Bishop, CA, but in the end I decided on a route near Burney, CA. It's flat but not too flat, and the scenery should be pretty good.

The planned route.

The route is ready. The legs are ready. (I'm not in top form, but I'm good enough to finish.) I can only hope that the mind is ready. I just need to eat/drink properly and push through that tough stretch towards the end. I don't plan on breaking any speed records, but it should be a fun ride and I'm looking forward to it.

Week 36

Date
September 5th, 2012

Distance
140 Miles

Time
8:55:03

Route Map/Profile

Only 3 climbs today- 50, Luther Pass, and Gold Hill.

Weather

I ran into some rain near South Lake Tahoe and on Luther Pass, but it wasn't very heavy.

Picture

I did Luther Pass for the first time in a while. It's not as hard as a lot of the climbs near Woodfords, but it's still a fun climb.

Ride Report
This was week 2 of training for a double later this month. There wasn't a whole lot of climbing because I don't plan on doing a very difficult double route. However, I did throw in the steep Gold Hill climb towards the end to test my legs. I'm happy to report that my legs passed the test, so I'm going to proceed as planned and pencil in September 19th as the double date. I'll do another long ride next week, and as long as I don't completely fall apart I'll do the double the week after that. The days seem to be getting shorter more quickly than I'd like, so I'm not going to mess around with a taper week.

Week 35

Date
August 30th, 2012

Distance
124 Miles

Time
8:22:52

Route Map/Profile

Mt. Rose, Kingsbury, and Six Mile Canyon

Weather

Picture

Lake Tahoe from US 50 near Glenbrook

Ride Report
The days are getting shorter and it's getting a little bit colder out there, so I'm thinking about doing a solo double towards the end of September as one last big ride of the year. Today's ride would be the first training ride towards that goal. The bad news is that I felt terrible at the end of the climb up Six Mile Canyon, but I'm hoping that I just had a bad day. That last section of Six Mile Canyon isn't exactly a forgiving stretch of road. I'm shooting for 140 miles next week and as long as I have a reasonably good day I'll keep the plan alive.