One down, Two to go...

Mileage YTD:     822
Climbing YTD:   ^^
(each ^ represents one Mt. Everest or 29,035' of altitude gain...)

Yesterday marked the completion of the first of three organized "Training Rides" I have tagged on my training regimen for the Tour du Canada - the Hills of Attrition.

The weather was a little chilly (42°F - about 30° colder than last year's ride), but the skies were dry. The weather prediction was for a light rain.  I rode with three of the regulars from our weekly club rides which made for a fun trip.

As mentioned in earlier posts, the ride is not particularly long (56 miles) but what it lacks in length, it more than makes up for in climbing.  The ride is basically a series of long, relatively steep (from a New Jersey, perspective) climbs, about one every 7 or 8 miles followed by descents and flats. 

The route profile, from a mileage perspective is 35% climbing, 20% flats and 45% descents.  With 5,200 feet of total climbing on the route, that translated into an average grade, when you are climbing, of roughly 5%.  (If you click on the image you will get a larger view of the route profile). See the note at the end of this posting...

The route organizers make sure the ride lives up to its name, because towards the end of the ride (mile 44), there is a particularly steep section, about a mile in length, just after a slogging 3 mile climb to soften up your quads - for about 300' of the climb, right near the top, the grade is 20%.  On the cue sheet, the route planners show their sense of humor with an added comment: "Friendliest pitch on the ride - enjoy!!"

Last year on this section, for the first 200' of the climb  I started out "delivering the mail" (which is basically zig-zagging from side-to-side, or "mailbox-to-mailbox" on the street making the ride longer but - in theory at least - not as steep, except for when you have to "zig" or "zag")  and had to get off my bike and walk the last 100 feet, with my heart rate maxed out and starving for both oxygen and power in my legs.

This year with a much better training base going into the ride (750 vs. 170 miles) I rode up the climb in a steady straight line and made it to the top with plenty of gas left in the tank, although towards the top I did "max out" on my heart rate.  I am sure the training had a lot to do with the change in performance, but feel that the cooler temperatures (mid-40°s vs. mid-80°s) made a difference too. 

We finished the ride feeling pretty good for having once again, taken on this challenge early in the season - not only that, but Paul observed that for the entire length of the ride, not a single rider passed us.

Next "organized" ride is the Montauk Century on May 16th - a "flat as a pancake" 106 mile ride to the Eastern tip of Long Island.
64 days to "Wheels up" from Newark...

Bill
A perspective on climbing...
Note: The Tour du Canada has a little over 100,000 feet (or a little under twenty miles) of total climbing  spread out over roughly 10 weeks of riding. With yesterday's ride, I feel pretty good about getting in more than a half of a week's worth of climbing in a single day, but am wondering what it must be like to get in an average of 10,000 feet of climbing per week over a 10 week period - especially when that average includes the Prairie Provinces...