Climbing Club

Im hoping some of you wonderful ladies here at TE will be able to help keep me motivated to ride hills this year. I dont particularly like hills and Im not very good at them but I do like the way I feel when I have managed to complete a hilly ride. As I was chugga lugging my way up a hill today I thought maybe we could start a climbing club here at TE.

My idea was that each month we could start a thread and state what our goals are for that month. The girls with altimeters could state an amount in feet or metres that they wish to have gained by the end of the month. The girls without altimeters could perhaps state how many times throughout the month they would like to complete a hilly route or a certain hill. This would not be a competition just a way to compete against yourself to see if you can complete your goal for the month. At the end of the month we come back and see what we managed. As we get fitter and better at those nasty old hills our goals will change that is why I thought a goal for each month would be good.

I know this would help to keep me motivated to choose those hilly routes rather than the flat ones when I ride on my own (yep Im a slacker).:D

What do you think?? Anyone interested??

Sure.

And you know SK will be in.

Sign me up!

Though I'm probably a 'cheater' as I have already set my first cycling goal this year to complete a mountain century in May. Riding tons of hills between now and then is a must for me anyway.

But I'd love to mooch off my fellow TE'ers for motivation! :D

Oh yes... this is such I good idea Trek

I completely suck on hills in a race situation, and racing is what I train for at the moment

While I could get by and sometimes still get placed in the beginning grade in my club, now I have moved up I get dropped on every hilly course.

I have goals for times on specific local inclines I train on... and am trying to build in regular hill reps in each training week...

I'd have to post in kilometres or time spent on hills, or number of hilly courses as I dont have an altimetre (yet... *cue wistful look on face* ) but this is an absolutely cool idea

:)

LOL - looks like my evil plan to inflict pain is working.

RoadRaven it doesnt matter how you decide to record it as long as it makes sense to you.

Aahhh looks like I wont be avoiding those hills for much longer - Thanks girls.

We need to plan a ride up Diablo for you Trekhawk. And up Tam... And up Hamilton... but that may be too far to drive.

V.

I love hills, so please keep me posted. I will have a very certain goal this year. After having a baby I need to get back in my riding shape very quickly. I love to climb but really want to climb faster. I really want to learn to descent without being afraid - that's my challenge. I would like to participate in one of our local tours in October (baby is due in March). This tour has 3-4 very nice long hills.

One of the goals I've set for my year is 5 min off of my time at the Mt. Baker Hillclimb. It's not until September, so it'll be a bit of a wait to see if I can make that goal, but if I remember or you remind me I'll let you know if I make it.

Or you could come down here and do Glendora Mountain Road or Onyx Summit....
I would be in.
You can use Routeslip.com or something like it to get gain figures in the US ( SK - Yes, i know apps like Routeslip overstate gain)

I have never been very good at hill climbing. Part of it is lack of lung power. Part of it is mental - I sometimes psyche myself right out of getting to the top. Especially if it's a hill I've had trouble with in the past or if others are passing me easily. DH is training for Climb to Kaiser in July. I plan to train with him, but have no aspirations to do the ride. There are other rides I plan to do this year and two have *those* hills. Maybe this will be the year I can get up and over them without stopping or walking. That's one of my goals for this year.

fiveone - good for your DH on C2K! And if you're training with him, you'll surely get better at hills even if you don't want to do that particular ride. What rides are you looking at doing? A great one for hills is Grizzly Peak in May. Also the Mt. Hamilton Challenge is a good ride as well.

Sounds good to me, I love hills.

This year I'd like to do better at the Mt. Equinox hillclimb race.

Long-term goal- Mt. Washington (not likely to happen this year it's the same weekend as a triathlon I want to do).

Yes, we need to get Trekhawk down here for an assault on Diablo. evil cackle


Oh, and mark your calendars for Wednesday Feb. 21 for the Second Annual Hugga-Chugga up Sierra Road to watch the Tour of California racers whiz by at an annoyingly fast pace.

Leebob and I will be making the ascent, I think V mentioned she and Thom were going.

Lee and I will probably stop partway up again - for the good vantage point, yeah, that's it!

Lee and I are planning on going up Calaveras on Saturday - Rougedog's post about Calaveras inspired me, and it should be really lovely up there right now with the hills greening up after the recent rains.

Maybe I can talk Lee into talking a left at the bottom of the Wall and going up Felter and then down Sierra. :)

What time Jo? We have so much to do with fixing the garage door and the gate that was damaged. But maybe...

V.

Don't forget Monday February 19 up Coleman Valley Road and Tuesday February 20 up Trinity Grade :eek: !! Those will be stages to watch - and climbs to ride!

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Originally Posted by maillotpois

Don't forget Monday February 19 up Coleman Valley Road and Tuesday February 20 up Trinity Grade :eek: !! Those will be stages to watch - and climbs to ride!

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Lee and I are taking the whole week off to follow the ToC - so perhaps we'll attempt those too. gahhhhhhhhhhhh what am I saying

V - Cool ! I'll start a separate thread :)

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Originally Posted by maillotpois

fiveone - good for your DH on C2K! And if you're training with him, you'll surely get better at hills even if you don't want to do that particular ride. What rides are you looking at doing? A great one for hills is Grizzly Peak in May. Also the Mt. Hamilton Challenge is a good ride as well.

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Oh...I'm still working on Table Mountain on the Chico Wildflower. It was in the 90s a few years ago when I tried the 100 mile option for the first time. I bonked badly and that's stayed with me. I've always done the 100K since then to avoid that climb. Tustin Rd. on Strawberry Fields Forever is another one I can't seem to manage. I've cr*pped out in the same place three years in a row :( .

We're definitely doing Chico again this year. Hopefully the weather will cooperate because I signed us up for the 100 mile ride. Don't know about Strawberry Fields yet. I think I'm more inclined (no pun intended :p ) to just train and ride on roads I know are tough rather than sign up for organized rides. The South Bay has plenty of hills! Once we get into DST, we'll be doing hill repeats once a week, aka Thigh Burners in our little ride group. That helps, but I'm usually bringing up the rear with every interval. (Insert heavy sigh here).

BTW, DH had a total knee replacement two years ago. Long story leading up to it best saved for another time and thread. He's been slowly coming back cycling-wise and C2K is next on his list of challenges. He's never ridden it before. I'm not so driven. I just want to ride, get better at a few things, and have fun. First I need to revive my flagging endurance base, however, before I think about tackling the hills.

Thanks ladies - looks like we have a few interested riders. I will start a thread in the last week of Jan so we can state our goals for Feb.
Hmm now I just have to decide how much energy I can muster in chilly February.

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Originally Posted by jobob

Lee and I are taking the whole week off to follow the ToC - so perhaps we'll attempt those too. gahhhhhhhhhhhh what am I saying

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Coleman is not bad. One or two tough spots, but oh so worth it for the views at the top and the actual valley is gorgeous too.

I'm up for the hill climbing club. It will help me become a better descender.

I'm toying with idea of a goal of riding all 3 local mountains every month.

Or maybe two out of three. At least Diablo and Tam can be done on the mountain bike, so there is variety.

Maybe one a month and rotating through all three...

V.

Oh and Jo... I think Coleman is easier than Sierra. Maybe because the views distract me. What do you think Deanna?

V.

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Originally Posted by Trekhawk

Im hoping some of you wonderful ladies here at TE will be able to help keep me motivated to ride hills this year. I dont particularly like hills and Im not very good at them but I do like the way I feel when I have managed to complete a hilly ride. As I was chugga lugging my way up a hill today I thought maybe we could start a climbing club here at TE.

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Hey Trek -

I know you have a long drive to get here, but I wanted to let you know that I'm planning on putting together a LUNA Chix Hills series sometime around April. Suggestions are welcome while details are being worked out - but you can expect to see Mt. Diablo, Mt. Tam, Mt. Ham, and Kings Mtn. on the list.....

This will be a progressive series working our way up to the steepest climb......

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Originally Posted by cindysue

Hey Trek -

I know you have a long drive to get here, but I wanted to let you know that I'm planning on putting together a LUNA Chix Hills series sometime around April. Suggestions are welcome while details are being worked out - but you can expect to see Mt. Diablo, Mt. Tam, Mt. Ham, and Kings Mtn. on the list.....

This will be a progressive series working our way up to the steepest climb......

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Thanks Cindy - I would be interested even if I can only get to a few of the rides. April is pretty busy (well at least for my husband on babysitting duties) as Im registered for Party Pardee, BAB and SLOB Wildflower rides.
Could you post a link to the info when you have a plan and hopefully I will be able to get to a couple of them.

Thanks again for letting me know.

Leslie

I'm definitely going to join you in this climbing club. I just haven't figured out what my goals are for the year. The primary one is a certain nemesis hill in Colorado that skunked me 9 years ago, but I hadn't done any real hill training and . . . and . . . and . . .

I'm going after it this year. It better be whimpering and cowering when I get there.:p

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Originally Posted by SadieKate

I'm definitely going to join you in this climbing club. I just haven't figured out what my goals are for the year. The primary one is a certain nemesis hill in Colorado that skunked me 9 years ago, but I hadn't done any real hill training and . . . and . . . and . . .

I'm going after it this year. It better be whimpering and cowering when I get there.:p

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LOL - Im sure you will blitz it.....I think I can hear it cowering as we speak.:D

I can only go up or down. I would like to go over the mountain by April. So this will help motivate me! and I use to complain about being a flatlander before moving here....:rolleyes:

I definitely need to join this challenge. I have managed to go from avoiding hills altogether, to choosing them and not despising them. Someday I'd like to welcome them. :) Hills are what separates DH and I when we ride so I really want to get better at them. Don't have any fancy device for calculating data so will state my goals as the number of times I do certain hilly rides.

I have some major "hilly" goals this summer anyway (120 km hilly ride around the lake, part or all of 320 km Banff to Jasper, and climb Alpe D'Huez this summer with only 14 stops - haha) so it will be good to have a focus and motivation here.

I can't start riding outside for at least another month so won't be able to do February goals yet. I'll stay on the side lines and cheer you all on till I can ride though!

I think besides climbing in general, I want to work on Bogus BAsin Road this summer -- it's a sixteen mile road up to the ski resort at the top, with its claimto fame being something like 140 hairpin turns. The altitude gain over the whole road is over 2500 feet, I think maybe closer to 3500. I figure this is a big project for me, with the scariest part being coming back down!

(It's pretty spooky on snowy mornings like this morning in the Durango with the skis on top too!)

Karen in Boise

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Originally Posted by Trekhawk

Hmm now I just have to decide how much energy I can muster in chilly February.

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What, it's gotten below 60 F??? :D :p :rolleyes: Count me in, but I do need to wait to ride until the temperature gets above 15 F :eek:

Uh, you been following the weather in California? Yesterday when TrekHawk left her house to drive here it was 17F. The start of the ride was maybe 28F. The high was 48 with 18mph winds and we rode 61 miles. When you aren't used to it, I'd say the gang of us earned our Tough Cookie Awards for the day. Go see the California Randonneuring thread for pics of frost in "60F" California.

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Originally Posted by SadieKate

Uh, you been following the weather in California? Yesterday when TrekHawk left her house to drive here it was 17F. The start of the ride was maybe 28F. The high was 48 with 18mph winds and we rode 61 miles. When you aren't used to it, I'd say the gang of us earned our Tough Cookie Awards for the day. Go see the California Randonneuring thread for pics of frost in "60F" California.

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No, I haven't been following the weather in CA, just thinking about my San Joaquin valley upbringing and the cold weather then. I am also wallowing in self pity because it has been below 0 F here :mad: .

I hereby bestow the "Tough Cookie Award" to all of you-yay! You rock!

Thanks! You can get a Tough Cookie Award in my book for just not packing the boxes and moving back to California. I went to Minnesota once for Xmas. My SIL's DH fry a turkey out on the deck at 0F. I supervised the stupidity* from the window.:p

*Description pre-approved by the SIL.

Well, one nice thing about this cold weather we're having, I've been wearing my AV thermal jacket out on rides. I figured it would never get cold enough to be able to wear it out on a ride, I thought I'd only use it as a tres stylin' apres-ride jacket. But it's been super for these cold rides. :cool:

Is it ok if join the climbing club?

I might have to drive to the good hills in Perth though..

c

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Originally Posted by crazycanuck

Is it ok if join the climbing club?

I might have to drive to the good hills in Perth though..

c

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Of course you can join CC, the more the merrier. LOL makes me happy to know I will be sharing the pain of hills with others.:D

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Originally Posted by Trekhawk

Could you post a link to the info when you have a plan and hopefully I will be able to get to a couple of them. Leslie

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sure thing!

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Originally Posted by Trekhawk

The girls with altimeters could state an amount in feet or metres that they wish to have gained by the end of the month. The girls without altimeters could perhaps state how many times throughout the month they would like to complete a hilly route or a certain hill.

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Actually, if you don't have an altimeter, Bikely does a reasonably good job of estimating the amount of climbing on a route.

Here's the elevation profile for a ride in Marin that I had mapped out on Bikely (the route itself is here ):

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...BikelyElev.jpg

And here's the elevation profile from my bike computer when I rode that route:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...osportElev.jpg

Bikely estimated about 3200 ft of climbing and my computer registered about 3500 ft. - which is pretty good agreement, methinks.