Week 33

Date
August 12th, 2013

Distance
102 Miles

Time
5:51:33

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Early morning leaving Hoback

Ride Report
This was part of the 5-day, 500 mile ride from Bozeman to Salt Lake City. The route took us from Hoback, WY to Montpelier, ID. It was a relatively easy day, since the first day was basically a headwind for 113 straight miles and the second day was over 120 miles with a tough climb towards the end.

As a whole, I really enjoyed the 5-day trip. The scenery was great and I feel like I learned a few things about my body along the way. Towards the end I was feeling better than I thought I would. The main time my legs hurt was after taking a break (and the group I was riding with loved their breaks). However, once I got warmed up I felt pretty good. Now I just need to find a way to ride one of the 30-day rides across America.

Strava Link

Week 32

Date
August 6th, 2013

Distance
101 Miles

Time
6:01:28

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Hyalite Canyon

Ride Report
I took a nice vacation that included 2 days of watching the Tour of Utah and 5 days of riding 500 miles from Bozeman, MT to the Salt Lake City, UT area. I showed up in Bozeman a couple days before the 5-day ride to add Montana to my list of states. (I'll try to update the Century in 50 States blog within the next week.)

I did the out-and-back up to Hyalite Reservoir, then headed out to Bridger Canyon. The Hyalite Canyon ride seems to be Bozeman's most popular ride from Internet searching, and for good reason. The climb itself isn't very steep or difficult, but the scenery is fantastic and I would definitely recommend the ride if you're ever in the Bozeman area.

Strava Link

Week 31

Date
July 31st, 2013

Distance
110 Miles

Time
6:56:51

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Welcome to Nevada. From 395.

Ride Report
Today was mostly an easy route with Monitor Pass thrown in there in the middle. I wasn't feeling it today. Last week was tough with the 3 long rides and it's been a big month overall with 1,384 miles for July. I'll take it easy this week and hopefully I'll feel better next week.

I took a video of the Monitor Descent (east side). The video is a little shaky, my camera was pointed too far to the left, and there was a lot of smoke in the air. Here it is anyway:



Strava Link

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