Week Ending Sunday, June 24

After suffering a bit on the Sunday ride, I was at least glad my back seemed to be holding up.  Did yoga on Monday and it felt great.  Rode Del Cerro on Tuesday with Charlie, Israel and Matt and felt okay.  I still got a little tired towards the end, even though we weren't going very hard.  I skipped Thursday's ride and instead Israel and I planned a fairly big ride on Friday am.  We decided to do Blackstar Motorway then head up Maple Springs.  Matt decided to join for the Blackstar Motorway part, his first time on it.

The way my rides were going, I was a little worried about doing this ride.  The Main Divide can put the hurt on you if you're not in shape, which I knew I wasn't.  I knew I had to do my best to pace myself and leave some energy for Maple Springs.  Plus, the forecast was for mid to high 80s and I don't do very well in the heat.

We parked at Maple Springs, did the 6 mile fast pavement ride over to Blackstar and started to head up.  I hadn't ridden Blackstar since VQ and it was quite soft and sandy.  Still, I felt decent and kept my HR a little lower than the previous rides.  Israel pulled ahead and I hung back a little with Matt.  We made it to the golf ball in 1:13 which wasn't too bad.  Really impressive for Matt, esp considering how little he rides compared to the rest of us.  The ride over to the Main Divide was pretty tough.  I always consider Blackstar Motorway a true test of where my fitness is: the steady climb up Blackstar and the steep relentless climbs on the Main Divide.  I don't think I passed.  I tried my best to pace myself up the steep climbs and avoid spiking my HR, but I just wasn't in the kind of shape to do so.  Still, I did okay and made it over to the Motorway without feeling too bad.

Headed down the Motorway, which was fun, then refueled at the car.  Matt took off, and Israel and I headed up Maple Springs.  It started to get warm, but I felt okay at first.  Still, knowing I wasn't at my best I told Israel that if he got ahead we could regroup at Four Corners.  That last mile or so of the pavement when it gets steep is where I started to suffer.  Israel was riding strong and gapped me here and I figured I just needed to get past the steep first mile or so of the dirt, then I should be okay up to Four Corners.  Was I wrong!  I suffered really bad at this point.  In hindsight, was definitely experiencing some mild heat exhaustion brought on because I was out of shape.  My HR wouldn't come down below 180 and I felt really fatigued all over.  I had to stop several times but at least wanted to make it to Four Corners.  Up near the top Israel came down and met me.  I told him later that if it was much farther from the top when he met me, I might have just headed down.  I did tough it out and made it up to Four Corners in 1:38, almost 30 minutes slower than my VQ split.  A very humbling experience and now I was truly concerned for Leadville, which was only 7 weeks away!

On Saturday, I decided to do a recovery ride and took the Crosscheck to the beach and headed north to Playa Del Rey.  It felt really good to spin the legs at a steady, but moderate pace.

On Sunday, I wasn't sure how I would feel but decided to go to Santa Monica and do a similar ride to what Israel and I did the week prior.  I parked at Amalfi and headed up Sullivan Ridge.  It took awhile to warm up, and some guy on a singlespeed dropped me right away, but I still felt decent and kept my heart rate in the mid to high 160s.  A definite improvement.  I got to the top and decided to go straight to Hectic, wanting to do the climb out of Cabellero Canyon while it was still cool.  My HR spiked up a bit on this climb, but I was encouraged that it recovered quickly.  And what a difference a week makes!  On the fireroad climb back up towards Sullivan Ridge a week ago, I was in granny gear and couldn't get my HR to drop below 180.  On this day, I was in the big chain ring as I should be, comfortably in the 150s and 160s and probably going 7mph vs 4.  I went down Sullivan Canyon, climbed back up and still felt good.  Got to the top and decided to go do the car trail.  Felt equally good on the return, which was really encouraging.  Finished the ride and was really happy.  I knew I still wasn't primed for Leadville, but it sure looked significantly better than just 48 hours earlier.

On a side note, I was over at my sisters house and she wanted to get rid of what was my first mountain bike: a 1991 Trek 950 I sold her about 10 years ago that she probably only rode a handful of times.  A true classic and my latest project!  I immediately removed the huge bar ends, the big comfort seat and kickstand and put some new rubber on it.  Next I need to work on the drivetrain, but that may take a little time.  I think I need to install new cables and housing and see if I can get the shifters working right.  It's a 7 speed, so the parts I have lying around won't work.  To be continued, but here's a pic so far:

Week ending Sunday, June 17

After the big Maple Springs ride, I was a little concerned about my fitness, but then realized it was perfectly normal to have lost some fitness after relative inactivity for the past month.  Still though, the back injury certainly put me behind schedule for Leadville.  I thought hard about how to ramp up the miles and take care of my back at the same time.

I decided to join the Thursday night road ride and brought the Crosscheck.  It turned out to be Dave, a new friend he met on his Saturday ride, and Israel, who was riding his old Trek mountain bike.  Interesting looking group for sure.  Dave's friend was pretty strong, and we did a pretty good pace up the first climb and took turns on the way over to the switchbacks.  Israel took some turns too, which was impressive since he was on a mountain bike!  I got more tired than I expected and again my heart rate was up pretty high.  I remembered from before that I estimated my anaerobic threshold HR to be somewhere around 170.  It exceeded that on most of this ride.  Still, it was fun to be out riding on a Thursday night in beautiful Palos Verdes.

After a much needed massage and adjustment on Friday, Israel and I went to Santa Monica on Saturday and did a pretty big one: we rode up Westridge, down Sullivan Canyon and back up, down Sullivan Ridge and back up, then down Hectic, up Caballero Canyon, then down the car trail, and back down Sullivan Canyon.

Sullivan Canyon was really fun and so was Hectic.  It was climbing out of Caballero where I started to feel really tired.  Again, tried to keep it nice and steady, but my heart rate reached the mid to high 180s!  In hindsight, I think it was a combination of the heat and being out of shape.  Doing the fireroad climb back to the car trail afterward seemed to take forever, and my HR would not come down from the high 170s and low 180s even though I was in granny gear going much slower than usual.  Did the car trail and really suffered on that same climb on the way back to Sullivan Canyon.  Still, was a good ride and hopefully just at the beginning stages of getting my fitness back.

Catching Up Since the Whiskey Off Road

Much has happened since the Whiskey Off Road, but unfortunately not much on the bike.  After taking a couple of planned easy weeks, I ended up with back spasms again.

It's difficult to pinpoint the exact cause, but there were a number of possible factors.  I played golf for the first time in 2 years, though I only got in 3 holes before separating some ribs on a tee shot.  I did go to the range the week prior, and also hit about 30 or 40 balls to warm up before the round started though.  We also had a sub instructor in Yoga, and though class was fun, we tried some unusual poses that may have contributed.  The following day, I woke up slightly stiff.  I felt it as soon as I tried to get out of bed, and again when it was difficult to put on my socks.  I had acupuncture done that day at noon, and by the afternoon, the back was quite a bit more stiff.  I actually still rode Del Cerro that night, but felt back tightness the whole time.  Not surprisingly, I woke up stiff and sore.  It still felt less severe than in the past though, but as the days went on it actually got worse.  Looking back, the last time I hurt my back it felt a little worse initially, but I was only off the bike less than 2 weeks.

This time it took three weeks.  Started with massage and adjustments, then light stretching, then some stationary bike and I finally was able to get back on the bike.  Was going to ride that Thursday night, but just didn't feel ready so I waited until that Sunday.  I ended up riding Maple Springs to Motorway with Susan, and it felt so good to be out there!  Predictably, my legs felt good early on because they were well rested.  My heart and lungs, however were a different story.  I decided to wear a HR monitor for the first time in years.  I recall that my heart rate runs pretty high even when I'm in shape, but I was surprised to see it jump up to the high 170s when the pavement got steeper.  I tried to settle down and make sure to pace myself, but my heart rate hovered in the high 170s and low 180s the whole time to 4 corners!  Still, I felt pretty good, and made it up in 1:17, so not too bad.  We went up to the first set of towers, then headed back down and across to Motorway.  That steep climb on the way over really hurt! Here I am taking a break next to my old bike, the Merlin Works I sold to Susan.  Such a beautiful bike! I miss it, but the Spearfish is a better bike for me.

Finished the ride and felt tired, but happy.  Did a bigger ride than I should have for sure, but the back felt good.