Week 30

Date
July 24th, 2013

Distance
102 Miles

Time
6:29:34

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Emerald Bay

Ride Report
I just signed up for a 5-day, 500-mile ride that starts about 2.5 weeks from now, so I'm doing 3 centuries in a row this week. This was number 2 of 3. I rode most of the perimeter of Lake Tahoe plus US 50 and the easy side of Mt. Rose. There were a lot of people out at the lake, which was nice to see.

I'll take it easy next week and then the fun will begin. I plan on watching Stages 1 & 2 of the Tour of Utah on August 6th & 7th and then I'll be off to Montana for a nice week of riding.

Strava Link

Week 29

Date
July 16th, 2013

Distance
107 Miles

Time
7:19:28

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Cave Rock Tunnel

Ride Report
Tough ride today. I didn't have much left in my legs on the last climb (west side of Mt. Rose). Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day out there and there's no better way to enjoy it.

Strava Link

Week 28

Date
July 10th, 2013

Distance
199 Miles

Time
14:14

Route Map/Profile

I did them all this time.

Weather

Picture

Kingsbury, Luther, Carson, Blue Lakes, both sides of Ebbetts and Monitor

 

Ride Report
I had to give the Alta Alpina Challenge another try. This time I was able to finish the whole thing. Total ride time was 14 hours and 14 minutes. Stoppage time was about 35 minutes.

The ride started out well. As expected, I was slower up until the first climb (Kingsbury), but on the climb itself I was about 3 1/2 minutes faster. I made it back towards Woodfords and this time the wind on the uphill in between Woodfords and Luther pass didn't bother me as much. Up until this point the weather was about the same as the real ride two weeks ago. As the day went on the temperatures were cooler, but there was more wind.

I felt the wind slowing me down on Carson Pass, but it really started impeding me on Blue Lakes Rd. The good news is that there was a nice tailwind on the way back. I ended up losing my GPS signal after the turnaround point on Blue Lakes Rd., so I can't make an exact comparison between the two rides. However, I do know that today I only spend 4 minutes off the bike as opposed to almost 17 two weeks ago. As a result, I ended up riding the first half (111 miles, actually) of the ride in about the same time- right around the 7-hour mark.

I took about a 10-minute break at the lunch stop. I wanted to get a little more food in me and give it a few minutes to digest in an effort to prevent what happened two weeks ago. I used the same strategy as before: I kept a solid but steady pace up the north side of Ebbetts and kept it slow up the south side of Ebbets to save energy for Monitor.

I wasn't too sure what to expect once I made it to the base of Monitor. I felt fine, but I would have said the same thing two weeks ago. The good news is that there was a pretty strong tailwind on the way up. Tailwind or not, I kept a very slow pace to the top to avoid any problems. The descent down to 395 was pretty fast with the tailwind. Then I had to turn around and face the music.

The east side of Monitor is never easy. It's long and your legs are usually a little tired from the west side of Monitor. Well, my legs were super tired from about 12 hours of riding and there was a killer headwind to deal with. The climb seemed to go on forever, but I resisted the urge to ride too hard.

At the top of Monitor I knew that I was going to finish the ride and I knew that I was going to do it within my original time goal of 14:30 that I was shooting for two weeks ago. I wish I could tell you that I finished today because I rode easier at the start or that I took more Endurolytes, ate more food, found a new sports drink, or whatever. I wish I could say that the lower temperatures made all the difference, but today's wind took more out of me than the heat did two weeks ago. I wish I knew why I failed two weeks ago and why I was able to finish this time around, but I don't. There's only one thing I know for sure: These rides are a lot more fun when you actually finish them.

Strava Links:

Part 1 (Lost my GPS signal on Blue Lakes Rd.)
Part 2

Week 27

Date
July 3rd, 2013

Distance
104 Miles

Time
6:43:09

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Brockway Summit

Ride Report
It was a beautiful day out there. It was nice and warm and there was hardly any wind. There were a ton of people out at the lake getting ready for the 4th of July. The ride itself went well enough. I've been avoiding 267 (Brockway Summit) for a while because last year on one of the descents I got a high-speed wobble that scared the crap out of me. If you're not familiar with the descent, it's straight down and very fast. In fact, it's the only place I've ever exceeded 50mph. I was doing probably mid 40s when I got the high-speed wobble. Needless to say, I wouldn't like to crash at that speed. The wobble shook my confidence for a while (and I'm not a ballsy descender to begin with), but I think it happened because one of my wheels was out of true, so I haven't worried about it for a while until today when I returned to the scene of the incident. I didn't do a full tuck and try to hit 50mph, but I wasn't riding scared, either.

Strava Link

Week 26

Date
June 29th, 2013

Distance
164 Miles

Time
10:34:50

Route Map/Profile

Minus Monitor (the last two climbs)

Weather

Picture

Near the top of Ebbetts Pass

Ride Report
Well, I wanted to go hard at the Alta Alpina Challenge and test myself. The problem is that I went too hard and didn't finish. It's been an awful year for me. I'm now 1/3 for doubles this year and I'm not too sure where to go from here.

The ride started off well. There was a strong group of guys starting off at 5:06 AM and we made quick work of the mostly downhill section before Kingsbury Grade, the first climb of the day. I managed to stay at the front on the Kingsbury climb with 5 other riders without any difficulty. I got dropped on the descent and from that point on I was on my own for the rest of the day.

I made it up Luther and Carson without any problems. I was going hard, but at the time it didn't feel like I was doing anything unsustainable. I kept riding my own pace on Blue Lakes Rd. and made it to the lunch stop with plenty of energy.

The real ride begins after lunch. There is nonstop climbing with both sides of Ebbetts (the steepest of the day) and both sides of Monitor (not terribly steep, but long and very difficult after 160 miles of riding). I know all 4 climbs pretty well and I have ridden them all within the last month. I knew I needed to keep a reasonable pace up Ebbetts in order to have something left in the tank for Monitor.

I rode the north side of Ebbetts at a steady pace, but again I didn't feel like I was riding too fast. I thought I was doing a good job of staying close to my limit, but not going over it. I was even more careful on the south side of Ebbetts. I figured I'd take it relatively easy, recover on the descent, and have energy left over for Monitor.

I made it to the base of Monitor feeling pretty good. My plan was to take Monitor easy and focus on finishing, not speed. I stayed in my easiest gear just spinning along. I didn't make it too far up the climb before I started to run out of gas. What began as a slow but reasonable pace turned into basically a walking pace. I knew the bottom section of the west side of Monitor was the most difficult portion of the climb and if I could just make it a little bit longer there was a flat section coming up. It didn't matter. All of the sudden I had to pull over and catch my breath.

Unfortunately, I've felt this feeling before (this year at DMD and last year in Oklahoma) and I've never been able to shake it. I get out of breath and even the smallest thing makes me feel winded. For example, I dropped my chain when I put my bike down, and it seemed like a huge ordeal just to put it back on. It took 3 attempts to finally put the chain back on and when I was done I felt like I had just done a sprint interval or something. Nothing feels comfortable except lying on my back with my hands above my head. I'll stay that way for a while, start to feel good, and decide it's time to sit up. By the time I sit up I'm already out of breath again. At DMD I was doing this, cramping, and my stomach felt terrible. Today there was no cramping and I didn't think my stomach felt so bad. However, after I decided to pull the plug on the ride and coasted down to the mini stop at the 89/4 junction, I began throwing up. I threw up a good 3 times and all that really came out was liquid and a few chunks of watermelon.

I felt better after throwing up, so I filled up a water bottle and decided to ride back to Turtle Rock Park. I drank a whole bottle on the downhill portion, and by the time I made it to the uphill portion I felt like garbage again. It's not a very steep section of road, but it might as well have been Sierra Rd. at that point. I stopped underneath a tree to catch my breath again. I threw up two more times, which was nothing but the bottle of water that I had just consumed. By this time my stomach was growling, but I was afraid to eat anything and drinking calories didn't seem like much of an option, either. I took a long break under the tree (long enough to see the first two 8-pass riders ride by) until I finally had enough energy to crawl back to the park. It wasn't quite as embarrassing as the SAG ride at DMD, but it was close. It's such a terrible feeling to ride in have people clap for you when you know you have to take the walk of shame to the timekeepers to let them know you only finished 6 passes.

It's difficult to accept defeat. I'm coming off of two solid years in the Triple Crown Stage Race, but this year I'm just garbage. I don't really know where to go from here. At the Terrible Two I proved to myself that I can ride slow and finish, but where's the fun in that? I only seem to be happy riding close to my limit. In 2011 and 2012 I was able to do that without pushing too far. This year I can only seem to push too far. The problem is that I didn't feel like I was going too hard at the time. But what else can it be when you're sitting at the side of the road puking?

Part of me never wants to ride a double again. It certainly hasn't been fun this year. Another part of me wants to go try the Alta Alpina Challenge route again next week.We'll see what happens.