Week 16

Date
April 24, 2016

Distance
101 miles

Strava Link
Week 16

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
The forecast was calling for rain in the afternoon, so my original plan was to do the Truck Route climb in order to squeeze in one climb before the rain started. By the time I got to Carson City there wasn't a cloud in sight and I was pretty sure the weathermen got it wrong again. I kept going and did Six Mile Canyon instead. The weather still looked good, so I added on Gold Hill.

The bathrooms in Virginia City are back open for the season.

Towards the top of Gold Hill I could see clouds coming from the north. At that point I decided to head straight back down to the valley. I got very lucky with my timing. When I hit the top of Geiger Grade I could see a lot of rain off in the distance. I managed to make it down the descent without any rain at all, but as soon as the descent was over it started raining. It was cold, but I only had 20 miles to go, so it wasn't too bad. At least it didn't rain all day.

Saturday was an interesting day. I went and did one of my favorite routes, which I call the VC 3 (Strava link). Later that night I was checking my Strava feed and I saw that Laurens Ten Dam did a very similar route (Strava Link). I know I didn't see him out there, so I checked the Flybys.

It's almost comical how close I was without passing him. If you look at the Flybys you'll see that he stopped in Virginia City for a while on C Street, which is the main street in town. I passed by on B Street, which is the next street over, one that I often ride on to avoid the crowds on C Street.

After that I went down the Truck Route and back up Gold Hill. By the time I was near the bottom of the Truck Route descent, Ten Dam was just starting his own descent down the Truck Route. I went back up via Gold Hill, while he turned back around and went up the Truck Route. Our paths were crossing, but he made it back to the intersection about 2 minutes before I did.

This all sounds very stalker-like, doesn't it? I would assume he's riding the Tour of California this year. I'm not sure what my schedule will be like, but I'm hoping to see the Tahoe Stage on 5/19. Remember when I got his feed bag last year?

One last thing: I was thinking about doing an Everesting attempt on 4/29. That's still up in the air. If I do end up doing it, I will do the Combs Canyon segment. It all depends on the weather. As of today the forecast looks good, but obviously the weather is always changing. I'm also off on 5/6, so I can wait another week if I have to.

Week 15

Date
April 17, 2016

Distance
104 miles

Strava Link
Week 15

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
Another beautiful spring day. The route was mostly flat except for two climbs: Gold Hill and Spooner Summit. It's funny how I've done a lot of different route combinations with Mt. Rose, Spooner Summit, Kingsbury Grade, and the 3 Virginia City climbs, but I don't think I've ever done this exact route. I guess that even if you've lived somewhere for a long time and done a ton of riding, there's still something new you can do.

I was really enjoying myself on the Truck Route descent. I've said before that it's my favorite descent, but today the weather was just so nice and there were a lot of flowers out there- yellow, red, white, and purple. I was taking it slow and enjoying the view. I stopped to take some pictures and then I noticed some wild horses on the other side of the hill. Today the Truck Route descent had it all.

I'm thinking about doing another Everesting attempt in late April or early May. I have April 29th off, so if the weather is good that will be my target date. It has to be a local one, so I have two segments in mind: Combs Canyon and the aforementioned Truck Route. They have their advantages and disadvantages. As much as I love the Truck Route, it's not very steep. It would take 23 reps for around 225 miles. Combs Canyon would take 105 reps for about 170 miles. The Combs Canyon descent is nice and straight, so you can really build up some speed there. There's also a little uphill at the end of the descent which is (a) a nice place to slow down from the descent and (b) a nice little ramp to start the climb on the way back. The main disadvantage is that it's a short segment, but 105 reps doesn't sound like a lot compared to the 460 I did last time.

We'll see what happens. Maybe another segment will come to mind between now and then.

Week 14

Date
April 10, 2016

Distance
101 miles

Strava Link
Week 14

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
It was raining like crazy Saturday night, so I was a little worried about what was in store for Sunday. There was a little rain at the beginning of the ride and a little more towards the end, but I managed to stay dry for most of the day.

I kept the route to a simple and flat out-and-back on US 50 just in case. That was good for the rain, but I timed the wind all wrong. There wasn't much wind early, but by the time I turned around the wind picked up a little and I had a headwind for the second half of the ride. No big deal. It wasn't that strong of a wind. More of an annoyance than anything.

Week 13

Date
April 3, 2016

Distance
101 miles

Strava Link
Week 13

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
I recovered pretty well from Everesting. I only had about 4 hours to sleep that night, so I felt terrible the next day. My legs were sore and I had no energy. What I did have was one hell of an appetite, so I spent a lot of time eating. The next night I was able to get a full night of sleep, so I felt a lot better the day after that. I was still eating a ton, but my legs weren't hurting and in general I felt normal again.

I opted for active recovery. I did a very short ride the day after, and 2 days of easy rides from there. Then it snowed on Monday, which I took as an excuse to take the day off. I did two more easy rides from Tuesday to Wednesday and then I went back to riding as much as I wanted on Thursday. So recovery consisted of 5 easy rides over 6 days. I felt pretty good by the 3rd day, but I don't have any plans coming up, so I was very cautious and took more days than I felt like I needed.

This week's century was a fun one. The weather was great, so I went up to Spooner Summit and kept going on 50 a little bit until I could get a few good views of the Lake. Compared to last year there's still a lot of snow in the mountains.

April 3, 2016

March 20, 2015

After that I headed over to Six Mile Canyon. Spring is in the air. Leaves are growing on the trees and there were a lot of flowers in the canyon. Six Mile Canyon is one of my favorite climbs anyway, so that was just the cherry on top.

Now that it's April, 1/4th of the year is over. I had 5 goals for 2016 and things are looking good so far.

• One century per week- On pace
• Century in 5 new states- Planned for summer
• One international century- Done in Tenerife.
• 12,000 miles- A little behind pace, but summer is coming.
• One Everest- Done.

I'd say that's pretty good, and the best months for riding are still ahead of us.