Week 16

Date
April 19th, 2013

Distance
110 Miles

Time
7:27:34

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Mt. Rose Highway Summit

Ride Report
Today was a relatively short ride, but I kept the profile challenging with 4 climbs: Geiger Grade, Six Mile Canyon, Hwy 50, and the west (short) side of Mt. Rose. This is a fun route. I'll probably do it again this summer.

Week 15

Date
April 12th, 2013

Distance
165 Miles

Time
11:28:53

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Lake Tahoe with Snow

Ride Report
This was my last big ride before DMD and it was a tough one. The route included climbs up Geiger Grade, Gold Hill, Mt. Rose (east side), Kingsbury Grade (both sides), and Gold Hill again. The 20,000 feet number that RWGPS gives is definitely exaggerated (you can see errors if you look at the profile), but it was a difficult ride.

This was my first trip up Mt. Rose for the year (~16 miles and 4,200 feet from 395), and the weather was great. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be up there, but I only did the short descent down to Lake Tahoe, not the long descent back down to Reno. There was more snow this winter than last winter, so the bathrooms at the summit are still closed and covered in snow. The extra snow made for some nice scenery along the way.

It was also my first ride to Lake Tahoe for the year. It couldn't have come at a better time, as I needed some new scenery to keep my mind occupied on an 11-hour day. It was the perfect time of year for this ride. There was plenty of snow in the mountains, but the temperature was warm enough to really enjoy the ride.

Physically, I felt pretty good. The second Gold Hill climb came after about 145 miles, which is about as close as I can come to simulating DMD's Sierra Rd at mile 155. Obviously I didn't feel fresh as a daisy, but my legs were far from dead. This will be my second DMD and my main advantage this time as opposed to 2011 is that I know what to expect from Sierra Rd as far as gearing goes. I ran a 50/34 with a 12-25 last time and I was a little worried that I might wish I had a 27 on the back. The 25 turned out to be fine, so I know that as long as I pace myself, everything will be fine.

I should be in good shape for DMD. The last 3 weeks have gone well and last week I set a personal best up Geiger Grade. I feel good physically. I hope I can avoid any mental mistakes. My time in 2011 was 14:53. I'm hoping for something under 14 hours this year.

Week 14

Date
April 4th, 2013

Distance
139 Miles

Time
9:41:10

Route Map/Profile

x2

Weather

Picture

Six Mile Canyon

Ride Report
DMD Training continues. I wasn't super excited about today because the forecast was calling for rain and wind. I lucked out on the rain and only got a very light sprinkle a couple times, but the wind was a factor all day long.

I planned on doing two trips up Geiger, Gold Hill, and Six Mile Canyon, but construction took Gold Hill out of the equation. That's a shame because Gold Hill is the toughest part of the ride and where I really wanted to test myself. I had to replace it with the 341 Truck route, which isn't as steep and is a much easier climb. I decided to use it for seated climbing drills, which was probably more of a mental exercise than a physical one.

I felt good out there. The wind doesn't annoy me as much on a big climbing route like today as it does on the flat routes I was riding earlier this year. It used to really scare me on the descents, but I think I've gotten a little more comfortable with that over the last year.

Next week is an important ride: the last long one before DMD.

Week 13

Date
March 29th, 2013

Distance
121 Miles

Time
8:10:41

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Ride Report
The 2013 Devil Mountain Double is only about a month away. This was ride #1 of my normal double training routine, which is to do a three week stretch of 120 miles with ~12,000 feet, 140 miles with ~14,000 feet, and 160 miles with ~16,000 feet. Today's route was basically 2 times up Geiger Grade, 2 times up 6 Mile Canyon, and one time up Gold Hill via 342.

The weather was great. The trees are starting to grow leaves and it felt like spring out there. My legs didn't feel too bad. I felt good the first time up 6 Mile Canyon and only slightly worse the second time around. Gold Hill is always tough, so I was expecting it to hurt after the 100-mile mark and I wasn't disappointed.