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If you read my 2008 Goals, you know I've been
struggling with motivation and haven't been on my bike very much since
the Mount Lemmon 200k last November. In all honesty, I wasn't
training very consistently for several months even before that ride.
In the time that I stopped consistent training, my weight has gone up
close to 20 pounds (ouch!). That's what lack of training without
decreasing calorie intake will do! Jeff and I have also watched my
power to weight ratio steadily decline to a point that it was worse than
2004 when we last measured it in January. I talked to Marc
Strickland (a sports psychologist) in December about my decrease in
motivation and what could be causing it. It was an interesting
discussion, but one of his key points was that when I found my
motivation again I needed to treat the time off the bike as an
artificial injury. Mentally it's very important to know I won't be
performing at the same level I was at before I stopped training
consistently.
It's also very important to document goals and refer to your goals
document periodically to remind you what you want to achieve. I've
done that in my professional life and my personal life and have found
the exercise to be incredibly beneficial. So it wasn't terribly
surprising to me that once I had my 2008 cycling goals documented (with
a commitment to Jeff), my motivation started coming back up. I've
posted my goals here and I refer to it periodically. In February
and March I've been consistently on my rollers for 45 minutes to an hour
each morning and have been out on the weekends riding Usery Pass and
Bush Highway. Annette got me a Powertap 2.4 SL to help with New
Year's motivation and it has been quite handy. Jeff and I
discussed how to get my power to weight ratio back up and it involves
steady easy efforts with a gradual increase in watts. He told me
to start at 140(!) watts and keep my heart rate relatively low.
Prior to the motivation problem I was riding my rollers relatively easy
at around 220-240 watts. I'm now up to around 180-190 watts
sustained and I'm staying in my recovery to endurance heart rate zones,
so I'm on track to getting over this artificial injury.
My main goal this year is to finish the California Triple Crown -- three
double centuries in California this year. I've got four California
doubles tentatively penned on my 2008 schedule with the first one, the
Solvang Double Century, this coming Saturday (March 29th).
Preparing for an ultra-endurance event requires the establishment of a
very strong foundation in base miles (lots of slow saddle time).
Time wise, I'm not there yet. It also involves steadily increasing
distance until you are riding close to what you expect to ride in an
event, the training just isn't at event speed. I'm not there yet
either. So... I decided to do Mine Country to see exactly where I
was at. I wasn't going for speed, just doing an endurance test.
Nothing quite like mountainous terrain to test your endurance! But
I still was hoping to do Solvang, so I wanted to be very careful not to
challenge myself at all on the hills and not damage my legs too much.
So... on to the ride report! I got to the start early and checked
in just after registration opened at 7am. Joe and Karen Zazzara
pulled up a few minutes before I finished getting ready and Sue Adkins
was right behind them. I knew it was supposed to get pretty hot
later in the day, so I wanted to leave early (and I didn't want to deal
with the group start), so I left right at 7:30am, a full half hour
before the official start. For those that don't know, the ride
starts in Superior heading towards Globe, AZ which means an immediate
climb. I dropped to my lowest gear (30x25) and started spinning up
the hill. With the grade, it was tough keeping effort and heart
rate low, but I took my time and didn't have any real problems.
Just as I was pulling into Miami I realized I forgot to put sunscreen
on! D'oh! I continued to take my time through Miami and Globe to
the first SAG stop. There were two guys there already (they must
have left even earlier than me because nobody had passed me on the
road). I ate a half banana and half a PB&J then headed out again.
There was a nice tail wind the rest of the way through Globe and up the
start of El Capitan.
The first really fast guy passed me on the lower part of the El Capitan
climb. Then two guys from the rest stop passed, and a couple more
guys near the top. On this climb I could definitely feel the
difference in my fitness. In prior years I always thought the
difficulty of El Capitan was over-rated. I wasn't pushing myself,
but the climb was still harder than I remembered it. I pulled into
the rest stop at the top of El Capitan a few minutes after the two guys
who had passed me last. I had another piece of banana and a
handful of trail mix then headed out again. The descent off of El
Capitan was great! That tail wind was still there, so I made
awesome time. I slowed at the bottom back to my "base miles" pace
and the guys from the top caught and passed me. I just took my
time to Winkleman.
The SAG stop in Winkleman had lunch boxes from Subway! Nice! I had
a 6" Turkey and Ham sandwich, a chocolate chip cookie and a diet pepsi.
Several people arrived while I was eating, including a cycling team
(sponsored by DNA Cycles). I left right after finishing the
sandwich and continued my relatively easy pace. But people didn't
start passing me until the start of the climb by the mine on the way
back to Superior. I glanced at the temperature on my Polar... 93
degrees! Ouch! Really wish I had remembered that sunscreen!
I stopped at the last SAG halfway up the climb for a porta-potty break
and to re-fill a bottle, then continued onwards and upwards. The
last part of that climb is really tough, but the last really hard
section section isn't too long. I did have to stop at the top
because sweat had dripped into my eyes near the top and my eyes were
stinging pretty good! There's a short descent before the infamous climb
up "end of the world," a 1.5 mile torture fest with grades exceeding
10%. I knew I was having an issue with sweat getting into my eyes,
so I stopped at the bottom of the climb and took off my sunglasses, so I
could wipe sweat out of my eyes as needed, then I started the slow grind
up the hill. I wish I could say I made it to the top without
stopping, but I didn't. I saw a shaded spot about half way up on
the opposite side of the road and pulled into it for a breather. I
was in my easiest gear and my heart rate was at 181. Dang I need
to lose some weight! I only stopped for a minute or so just to get
my heart rate back under control, then continued on. There was a
guy at the top with water, but I was really looking forward to the wind
cooling me off on the descent on the other side, so I didn't stop.
Man that wind felt great! I usually get into a pretty tight tuck
on descents to maximize speed, but this time I sat up and enjoyed the
wind blowing through my sweat drenched jersey. A swamp cooler
never felt so good! I told Annette I expected to finish between
1:30 and 2:00, but a few miles out of town I noticed it was 1:50, so I
stopped to call. No signal. So I continued on and got out of
the hills and right at 2:00 got a cell signal and called home. I
was pretty tired at this point and was taking it easy, but was surprised
it wasn't my legs that were bothering me, but my arms! My triceps
were just plain done! I sat up and rode no-hands for a while
stretching my arms. It's been a long time since I've been on a
bike that long. Total time was about 6 hours 45 minutes.
Joe, Karen and Sue pulled in just a few minutes behind me. We
chatted for a few minutes then I headed to the Circle K for a 44 ounce
ice cold diet pepsi!
So, what does all this mean for Solvang? I'm going, definitely.
But I'm going to treat it as more base miles and not as a performance
event. My brother Leo is going to tag along for the ride again, so
if I decide after 100 or 125 miles or so that I've had enough, I'll give
him a call and buy him a nice cold Guinness for picking me up!
Unless of course I don't have a cell signal...
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