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