Devil Mountain Dummy - February

[Veronica]

We went to the Rice Valley Tandem Rally Feb. 11. This was a nice flat ride, with only 400 feet of elevation gain, 92 miles in length. We haven’t been on the tandem in about a year. I have really changed my riding position since we were last riding the tandem regularly, and it showed. The comfy position on my Brooks saddle is sitting straight up, while I now prefer to be in a more aerodynamic position behind Thom. Frequently standing to pedal kept me happy, but overall it was much less comfortable than my single bike. We had been considering using the tandem to do our first double, Solvang, but we’ve changed our minds.

I’ve ridden 437 outside miles this month, most of it involving a climb. On Presidents’ Day we went to see the finish of Stage 1 of the Tour of California in Santa Rosa. In the morning, Thom dropped me off in Napa and I rode Mount Veeder to Dry Creek. Mount Veeder was very pretty and we had done it previously on the tandem. It’s a pleasant climb with a nice downhill. The roads were a little sandy. I suspect that they had been quite icy overnight, as I did see a few patches of ice left over.

It’s a pretty stiff climb up Dry Creek, however and I was thrilled to get to the top and see a Cheese Hill sign. You know the sign, it has a truck on what looks like a wedge of cheese and usually indicates the grade of the downhill. In this case 12%! Woohoo! It’s a curvaceous descent and I’m having fun. That is until the road takes a sharp left and I have too much speed for the corner. I brake hard – too hard and lock up the rear tire. I fishtail twice across my lane. It’s amazing how many thoughts can go through your head in a short of amount time. “I’m going to crash. This is what happened to Joseba Beloki in the 2003 TdF. I can’t crash. My bike is too pretty.”

Fortunately, I released the brakes, Fluffy straightened out and there was no crash. It did shake me up a bit though. I stopped after another corner and called Thom. He was already heading up the hill to meet me as my time for riding was running out, so he was only a mile or two away. We had underestimated how long it would take me to climb Veeder and Dry Creek so I didn’t get in a very long ride before going to the ToC.

Since I have my speed sensor on my rear wheel, I know exactly how fast I was going when I locked up – 34.4 MPH. I consider it a lesson learned – actually two. Fluffy could have taken that corner, at that speed. I wasn’t leaned over very far; I didn’t need to brake as hard as I did. Secondly, release the brake dummy.

The next day, Tuesday, the Tour climbed Sierra Road. So did we. This is the climb I am most worried about on DMD. It comes after Mount Hamilton and is very steep – 3.4 miles, average grade of 10%. By itself, this is a very doable climb. I never got out of the saddle – except to pose for my picture as I got to the summit. I plan on doing a loop of Hamilton – Sierra Rd. sometime in March. I was extra cautious on this descent and afterward I was a little concerned that maybe I’ve lost confidence in myself. I need to be zippy on the down hills to counteract my slow climbing.

My last big ride for the month was from our house, over Morgan Territory, through Danville and up Diablo. I was initially planning on doing two loops of Morgan Territory/Diablo, the second loop with Thom. When he hooked up with me on Diablo, we decided to bag the second loop. Neither of us was really excited about it and riding is supposed to be fun. The good news is – I’m back to my zippy self – at least on descents I know. I had my personal fastest speed on the Livermore side of Morgan Territory – 44.3 MPH.

I think my training is going pretty well. In addition to the outside miles I had another 8 hours on the trainer. I’m really looking forward to the Solvang Double at the end of March. It’s fairly flat. DMD is the first of the stage race doubles. I plan on signing up for Central Coast, which is the second stage. If DMD goes well, I will sign up for Terrible Two, the third stage. Terrible Two has a 16.5 hour time limit. That means I need to average 12.25 MPH. That doesn’t sound hard, but it has extremely steep climbs -the first being that 12% grade I nearly wiped out on. My average speed for the long climbing rides I’m doing has risen from 10.9 to 11.5 MPH. So we’ll see. Only 32 people completed all three stages last year. I could be in the top fifty!

[jobob]

The next day, Tuesday, the Tour climbed Sierra Road. So did we. This is the climb I am most worried about on DMD. It comes after Mount Hamilton and is very steep – 3.4 miles, average grade of 10%. By itself, this is a very doable climb.

Gah, doable for demi-gods

I was extra cautious on this descent and afterward I was a little concerned that maybe I’ve lost confidence in myself.

But weren't there a lot of people descending along with you? Prudent, I'd say.

Great reports, V !

[snapdragen]

I can’t crash. My bike is too pretty.

Glad to see you can think clearly when Fluffy is in danger!

Living vicariously through Princess Zippy

stuffy snap

[Bike Goddess]

V- Thanks for sharing with us your training ups and downs! I know Veeder well, but not Dry Creek. Sounds like you went up the south side of Veeder and then out Dry Creek. I'll have to look at a map. Glad you didn't crash, I certainly know the feeling of going too fast. Good fast work in recovery!

Keep us posted. As you can see we all love hearing about your progress. I'd like to do Sierra Road sometime as well. Mick tells me that it's harder than Diablo. What do you think as you are the Diablo Queen!

I'm planning to go up Morgan Territory the way you came down. I've driven it with my friend Linda- a thwarted attempt to climb that direction since her rim gave out about 4 miles on the ride (so we drove it instead) 44.3 MPH- Not too shabby in my book! I've only done 42 on Crockett and its a much better road than Morgan Territory!!!!

Don't you need to do single rides to qualify for Triple Crown???

[maillotpois]

Great recovery on the descent! Sounds like your training is going really well. I don't know about you, but I am getting downright impatient to actually DO Solvang or one of these other events.

I've got a great ride planned for Sunday - 120-ish, which I am VERY excited to do. I am having to work in the coaching rides I am doing with the group I am training for Death Ride. Those rides have been a bit shorter at this point than I'd like, but c'est la vie! I am really excited to see some of these women I am coaching take on the Death Ride, so that will be super fun to watch their progress over the next few months. (They're all TNT coaches who have done loads of centuries, but nothing longer or harder, so for many of them this will be a significant step up in their cycling. Of course, I am also "coaching" DH as part of this group. He doesn't take to me coaching him too well, but then I don't take to being coached by him too well, either! A pair of Type A's!).

And meanwhile, my FC 508 partner is mildly freaking out because she has a hamstring issue. She may not even do Solvang, but she's committed to DMD.

[Veronica]

It's hard to compare hills that are so different. Diablo is longer than Sierra, but it's not as steep, except at the end.

V.

[Bike Goddess]

That's what Mick said- steeper! And if you say it's doable, maybe there's a chance I can do it too. AND I never like the end of Diablo cause by that time you're pretty tired and you have to give it everything you've got (or at least I do)!

[SadieKate]

Nancy, jobob provided quite a good write up over in a Tour of California thread. She even posted good pictures.

Glad you folks enjoyed it !

LeeBob and I did a recon ride up Sierra Road today to scope out places to view the race. Sierra Rd is the Cat. 1 climb on stage 2 so it should make for interesting viewing.

Well, I can now say with assurance, that road is quite the stinker !

It starts out with a steep bump of about 14 % right from the get-go. After about a 1/2 mile straight stretch it starts getting very windey. I really dislike roads like that, I start dreading what I'll face coming around the bend, and for the most part I was not disappointed - dismayed is more the word.

Here's what you first see when you turn onto Sierra from Piedmont.



This is looking down from the end of the straight stretch



And this is where it starts undulating ... upwards ...



Now, in my own defense (oh, oh, it's excuses time ) I haven't ridden for nearly 2 weeks so I'm hardly in prime shape. Plus I was still achey from yesterday. Plus, uh - I can't think of anything else at the moment, if I come up with something I'll let you know. Oh, right, jet lag!

But even if I was in decent shape that stinker would still be hard.

Here are a few more photos on the way up, and looking down from where we'd been. The views are gorgeous up there.




We reached a point where we had a really good view of the road coming up. There was a bit of a gravel shoulder and it seemed generally pleasant so we figured that might be our viewing spot for tomorrow, it's about 1.5 miles up. But we thought we would press on to see what else we could find.



About 1/4 mile farther up we reached a bend in the road with a small clump of trees on either side. We looked up and it seemed the road was kicking up even more ! Lee and I both decided at that point that gee, that spot we passed a little bit back looked fine & dandy and we really didn't need to go any father.

Uncle !!!!


So, we made it about 1.75 miles and climbed about 950 feet up Sierra before we threw in the proverbial towel As far as I can tell that's a roughly halfway up - depending on where I read the climb is between 3.2 and 4 miles. Someday I'll make it up that thing and find out for myself.

I checked the gradient display on my computer after we returned home and it looks like the first half of Sierra averaged about 10-12%. Once in a while it would "level off" to 5-6% but the climb was for the most part in the double digits. Gahhhhh. And according to the profile on the Chain Reaction website, it doesn't let up until the top. Double gahhhh.

Now maybe my lack of conditioning plays into this but I think Sierra is *way* harder than Mt. Diablo. It's quite a bit shorter, but it's so much steeper for much more of the time.

People who finish the Devil Mountain Double (which is Diablo & Mt. Hamilton followed by Sierra at mile freakin' 150) are demi-gods in my book !