Climbing Club - July Goals

[Starfish]

Boy do I have some Death Ride stories for you guys. Get in, and then we'll talk!!

Sara, see, this is how they hook us. We have to get in, and only then will they give us the realities!

[maillotpois]

wait til I tell you the "uniballer" story. It will all be worth it.

[GLC1968]

I didn't set a goal for July, but I've already got over 20K in and I expect at least another 5K this weekend.

Can I ask you mountain goats a question? I rode my first real 'mountain' a couple of weekends ago. It was about 3-7% grade (varying) for 8 miles. It's a tough one around here because there is no flattening out at all, it's all climbing for 8 miles. That said, I did it, but I didn't do it well. I found that if I could spin comfortably in my lowest gear, my HR would get too high and I'd get dizzy and nauseous. If I kept the HR manageable, the cadence was too low and my legs would burn out. I obviously need some work.

How do I train for something like this when I just don't have those types of long climbs around me? We have plenty of hills, but nothing longer than maybe a mile, and even those aren't all that steep. I can get to a 2 mile 8% climb, but even that would be more of a weekend trip (it's an hour from me). The hills in my immediate area are easy for me compared to the long climbs that I need to be able to ride (by the end of September).

What should I do? Hill repeats? HR training? Weight lifting? Drive my lazy a$$ to the mountains every weekend and ride there?

Thanks!

[maillotpois]

Sounds like hill repeats are going to be your best option - driving to the long hill would be great, but probably impractical.

Here's something to try to make your hill repeats more challenging/interesting/effective: time yourself the first time you do it. Ride at a comfortable pace you'd think you could sustain for your 8 mile hill. Then try to keep your subsequent repeats at the same time as the first one. It's not easy! Do as many repeats as you can the first time. The next time, add one more. And so on...

[Starfish]

I don't consider myself a mountain goat, yet, but here is something I have been doing to combat what you described. (And, I'd be curious if any experienced climbers think this is a bad idea for any reason.)

I am getting fitter and fitter for prolonged climbs because I am blessed with a mountain in my back yard. But, maybe this would work for repeats, too?

In order to train myself to keep going when either my heart or my legs want to explode, I have found I can take a sort of "rolling rest" on the bike, even uphill, by SERIOUSLY slowing down. Slowing both cadence and speed...right down to about 3mph at 60rpm in my granniest gear. It takes concentration not to fall over, but I find I can give both my heart and legs a rest for a couple minutes, and then I can gear up a bit and keep going.

I don't know if this is applicable on hill repeats, when you get a break on the downhills. But, it is something I have noticed helps me stop less frequently on hard climbs, for what it's worth.

[onimity]

I made my goal of 40,000 Motionbased ft.

Of course I don't know how many actual feet that is, probably 30,000 or so. The ride I did yesterday had 5,500 feet of climbing and Motionbased gave it 8,900. That was canyon riding, though, the readings seem more accurate on the flatter city roads I spend a lot of time on.

I was really happy yesterday (full account in the July 28th rides post), I figured that I'd be crying at the end of the ride but I felt like I could keep climbing when I got to the descent. Yippee!

I got invited on a several-night self-supported ride in September that includes riding Trail Ridge Road ... so I guess I'm glad to be feeling good about 'hills'!

[SadieKate]

For July I decreased my goal because June was the big month. I still outdid my goal by 29%! Only a puny 15,529 ft but that's better than the 12,00 I targeted -- and it's all altimeter measured so I feel pretty good about the number.

I'm feeling pretty positive that I'll make my yearly goal but not counting any chickens yet.