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...

March is DONE - bring on the sunny days!

Despite record rains in New Jersey, and recovering from foot surgery in late February, I managed to log a little over 300 miles on the road in March. This year I am keeping track not only of my total mileage, but of my total altitude climbed. I am now at 34,000 feet (or 1.2 Mt. Everests), and four miles shy of 500 miles since January (with 85 miles planned for tomorrow and Sunday).

My legs lungs and heart are getting stronger with every ride, and I am now logging over 100 miles per week. With that base of training, I have got back to what I call the "Sea (sic) Food Diet" (I see food, I eat it!) and the winter pounds are beginning to drop off.

I have a couple of big rides coming up as part of my training regimen for the Tour du Canada, the very hilly (5,000 feet of climbing) 50+mile Hills of Attrition on April 18th, the pancake flat, with a tail wind 107 mile Montauk Century on May 16th, and the hilly 65 mile Revolutionary Ramble (with really cool cycling jerseys) in early June just before leaving for Vancouver.

With each passing day, the hills seem a little flatter and shorter, and I am sleeping better every night. I passed a big commitment milestone this week with the Full and Final payment for the Tour du Canada, was due on March 31st.

Onwards and upwards - 81 days to wheels-up from Newark.

The 2010 Season has officially begun! :)

Today the major snows from 2 weeks ago are all gone, and the temperature was 61°F, and sunny.

New Jersey is drying out from a major rainstorm over the weekend - up to 7" in places and high (55MPH+) winds, but the roads were dry for the most part. Potholes, however are another issue.

That said it was time to officially declare the start of the 2010 cycling season - marked by shaving my legs and shaving off my winter beard.

Today's ride was a 35 mile loop I have dubbed the northern part of the Hills of Attrition. It has four reasonably sized hills - 3,500' of climbing in total, with a "nose scraper" (a little stretch of 20% grade) thrown in at the end to really soften up the quads. I over dressed and had to peel off my base layer half way through the ride so I didn't overheat.

I didn't break any speed records, and the hills seem steeper and longer than when I rode them in November, but after a month things should be back to normal - which is good because the full Hills of Attrition is on April 18th. I am already 215 miles ahead of last year's pace, and I only started riding last year at the very end of March. The group I ride with (Team Marty's) have already planned out a few rides starting with The Hills of Attrition and followed a month later with the Montauk Century - a wonderful 110 mile ride to the eastern tip of Long Island through the Hamptons. Those should get me in good shape for Vancouver.

My foot is healing well, but I have a slight pain during riding where the scar is. The weather for the week is much like today (Mid 60°s and sunny) so I should be able to get a good start on building up the base.

98 days to wheels up from Newark.