Week Ending July 29- Harding

After Big Bear and with just three weeks until Leadville, I normally would have tapered more, but because of my time off in May, I thought it would be good to get another good training week in, then taper the last two weeks.

Did the usual Del Cerro on Tuesday and PV road ride on Thursday, then decided to do Harding to the peak on Sunday.  I thought Harding would be the closest thing we have here in So Cal to the Columbine climb.

The whole Leadville crew joined in for the Harding climb.  We started up and I felt pretty good. Charlie gapped me, but I put a gap on Israel and Susan.  I decided to push the pace up to Four Corners and made it up in 1:24.  Here's the obligatory bike shot up at Four Corners.

Though I felt pretty good during the climb to Four Corners, once we started climbing to the peak my legs soon reminded me that I would need to pace myself at Leadville.  I think most of my base fitness was back, but I was not ready to maintain higher intensities.  The good thing though was my back was holding up nicely.  All the yoga, stretching, massage and chiropractic work was paying off.  We all made it up to the peak and celebrated our last semi-big training ride.  Leadville was almost upon us!

  

Week Ending July 22- Big Bear

After the big road ride, it was really time to step it up for the biggest training ride yet.  Three weeks out from Leadville, we wanted to get a good 8-9 hour ride in.  Charlie and Israel and I met and decided to ride on the 50 mile marathon course in Big Bear.  It was ideal because it was at elevation, would be cooler than our typical riding spots (90+ that weekend in the Saddleback area), and it was actually a 25 mile course where we go back to the car to refill water and refuel.

Israel picked up Susan and I and we headed out to meet Charlie in Big Bear.  We parked near a golf course driving range, got ready and headed out for the first lap.  Israel was navigating on the Garmin, and we headed up the Fern trail, which was a bit technical, steep and difficult in spots.  We then caught the main 2N10 fireroad which was nice and steady.  On the backside of the loop there was a pretty difficult singletrack climb which looped us back on to to fireroad.  Susan was having a difficult time with a cold, so Israel and Charlie and I were doing some up and backs to keep moving and get more ride time in.  There was some fun singletrack on the way back, which made the loop even more enjoyable.  We got back to the car in about 3:45.  Susan was also having a difficult time with her hand, so she chose to do her own thing for the remainder of the day.  Israel, Charlie and I did a second lap, though this time instead of climbing up Fern, we climbed the road next to Bear Mountain (steep) which turned into fireroad and eventually got us back on the loop.  I was actually feeling pretty good at this point, which was encouraging.  We finished the loop this time in about 3 hours.  We needed about 2 hours to get in 8 hours of ride time, which we were determined to do.  This time, we headed up the road again and the fireroad, and decided to keep going until we hit 7:30 of ride time, then turn around.  When we made it back, we ended up with 8:15 of ride time.  It was a great training ride, and by far was the best  I'd felt since my back went out in May.  Super encouraging three weeks from the race.

Week Ending Sunday, July 15- Angelus Crest

After having fun, but struggling a little bit with my fitness in Mammoth, I knew I had to be patient and keep training, and hopefully things would come around.  After all, it had been just 4 weeks since I started riding again.

After riding 3 days in Mammoth, I took it easy at Del Cerro on Tuesday and had a good road ride on Thursday around PV, though it rained a little.  Neal was there at the ride, and he mentioned he and his club were doing a big ride out at Angelus Crest.  Israel and I agreed this would be great training, so we joined him.

We met Neal and his club out in Duarte and it was a good turnout, with a good 20+ riders ready for a big day.  I brought the Crosscheck, but switched the cross tires to regular road tires.  There was about a 20 mile flatish warm-up through Sierra Madre and Alta Dena before we hit the Angelus Crest Highway and the long 35 mile climb.  The climb started a little steeper at about 8%, but quickly it settled into an easier grade and seemed to stay between 4-6% for the majority of the time.  I felt pretty good, but knew I wasn't as strong as I would've liked to be.  My legs were glad there were no steeper sections, but were feeling good enough to keep spinning along.  We had a long rest stop at Newcomb's Ranch, which is a nice biker stop on the highway.  After lugging up a third water bottle for most of the climb that I  didn't even touch, I decided not to fill all 3 bottles there, which turned out to be a mistake.  There was another 5-6 mile climb after that and it started to get hot.  Here's a pic of Israel, Neal and I near the top.

The descent down HWY 39 was interesting, especially the first several miles, which were unmaintained.  I was glad I had the Crosscheck here, because even with road tires, it seemed stable and the steel seemed to smooth things out.  After awhile, the road was more maintained, then we dropped in next to the San Gabriel reservoir.  I was already out of water and the terrain began to roll a little, requiring more pedaling effort.  I finally made it down, but made a wrong turn into a residential area.  I was hoping to find a drinking fountain there, but no avail.  I made my way out to the river trail and it was only a few miles back to the car.  A really good training ride with just under 90 miles and 9K feet of climbing, and though I  didn't feel awesome, it was a step in the right direction.