Trails--up the whole way UGH.

[lovelylibrarian]

It seems that so many of the MTN bike trails that I ride on are up the entire way and then down the way back. I'd really prefer a bit more up and down since I'm new to riding and I'm exhausted after riding uphill for 4 miles. Even if it's gradual, it's still up. Anyone else notice this or am I just riding the wrong trails. They are marked moderate in most books but to me, uphill for that long, is just not so moderate.

[spokewench]

Since you are in the Bay Area, that is pretty typical riding. It is a lot of steep dirt road climbing, not too technical. Try Lake Chabot over between San Leandro/Castro Valley - it is hilly but alternates quite a bit.

spoke

[lovelylibrarian]

Thanks. I'm really working on my cardio but these uphill rides are killing me. I'd like to alternate them with the up and down rides. My husband is in super shape so he just rides up and back to check on me and up again.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

I don't know how long you have been riding but I used to push alot. The bike that is. I wasn't ashamed of it either. But I wasn't lazy about it either.

I hope this isn't Mt Tam you are climbing! OH my. I came out of the mountains last year because of the fire in South Lake Tahoe to ride and I went half way up Mt Tam and swore I was going up the wrong way. Nope, it's just a long crank...I think it's really interesting when you go somewhere different how you take for granted some of the trails you ride, and find that you have to adapt to a new one. I know riding here in the East is very different. I'm used to the long cranking hills in Tahoe and coming out here the pop up steep hills kill me. Happy Crankin!

[Irulan]

Hopefully you'll come to enjoy or at least appreciate climbs. There's the obvious reward of The Top Obtained... but besides that, I love to climb because-

- I can see improvement all the time in fitness ( gee, that wasn't so bad) and technical skill growth. You'll remember when it seemed like it took you all day to get up there, and now it only takes a little while
-find the meditative aspects of a long climb, and learn to appreciate them

[atombessy]

lovely librarian! I'm almost a librarian too (one class left and I'm official!)

hills can suck (especially LONG slow ones like you're describing) but the best way to get better at hills is....to climb hills It sucks now but by the end of the summer you'll appreciate all those up miles you put in! (I'm trying to be a cheerleader, but I appreciate where you're coming from, hope you find some other trails to play on too!)

[ima_bleeder]

You've got my sympathy! I know how you feel. I'm in the coast range in Oregon, and every ride has 100-125 ft of climbing per mile. My easy after-work 12 mile loop has about 1,200 ft of climbing in total, in three steep intervals. That's my easiest off-road ride.

As a mostly fair-weather weekend warrior for the last couple of years, I wasn't seeing much progress in my climbing fitness. So this year I decided I wanted to gain an impossible amount of bike fitness, and I set a goal to race in a local 50 mile (7,500 ft of climbing) race.

I have no problem gaining muscle strength just by getting out and climbing. A lot. But my limiting factor was always my aerobic fitness.

I've been completely amazed to find how much aerobic fitness I was able to gain by going on a lot of very long (2 - 4 hour) road rides that felt very easy (zone 1 / 2 HR) to me!

I still suck wind all the way up to the top of the mountain, and on most of the group rides I go on I'm still the slowest climber in the group. But I can look at my data from less than a year ago and see a significant improvement.

You'll get there too. It just takes time. I'd also recommend trying to find a riding partner who's maybe more your speed. I find it pretty defeating to always be going out with the really fast guys.

[lovelylibrarian]

Thanks to all for the encouragement. I go MTN biking with my husband and he is much more experienced. After 4 miles uphill with several breaks, I was just exhausted. I wasn't even enjoying the beautiful scenery on the way up.

Do you take many breaks when you are riding? My husband doesn't seem to need them but I sure do. I need some recovery time.

I am going to spinning classes about 5 days a week to improve my cardio and we MTN bike on the weekends. I commute to work by bike but it's such a short ride that I doubt I'm getting much cardio benefit from it.

I must say that one the way down from the 4 mile uphill I was really impressed that I was able to make it up that far. It was a long way down!

[Veronica]

Where are you guys riding on the weekends?

V.

[lovelylibrarian]

The super long uphill ride last weekend was in Mill Valley in Marin County. The trail was called the Old Railroad Grade or something similar... Nice view from the top though. There is an inn up there.

Are you familiar with it?

[Veronica]

Yep





V.

[lovelylibrarian]

Great pictures! I'm going to have to try to find a group of girls to go MTN biking with once in a while. I think I'd enjoy it.

[wavedancer]

I hear ya' on the hills in Marin County! We just came back from riding there and it is very different than the riding I have done here in the East. Here it has been more short steep climbs, rolling terrain, roots and mud. I found that as long as the long steep climbs were not loose or technical I could generally find a rhythm and a gear to keep going. Throw in some switch backs or loose trail surface, and I found that I expended way more energy and had to stop more often. I have preferred the rolling, swoopy single tracks, but they usually require some climbing to get to them. I can see that riding hills will make you stronger quickly, though, so keep at it!

One place you may want to check out for some easier fun trails is China Camp in San Rafael. We did a nice 10-mile loop that had some climbing and switch-backs, but nothing that we had to get out of the middle ring for. There was enough to work on some handling skills, and lots of just fun riding.

[SadieKate]

I was going to suggest China Camp also. You need singletrack skills though as it can be narrow in the middle stretch. California is a lot of long steep climbs on fire roads.

The Railroad Grade should be good training ground though. It is, um, the easiest climb on Mt. Tam. Just settle in and find the zen of climbing. V's photo above was a big 24 mile loop of Tam from Lake Lagunitas (Sarah, did you see the lilies! Inside joke, sorry.) with 3,560 ft of climbing. You'll be ready for it in no time if you keeping riding the RR Grade and add in the summit.

Then head over to Briones of you want training rides averaging 183 ft/mile.

If you're ever up in the Gold Country, try the Pioneer Trail (outside Nevada City) and the Olmstead Loop (in Cool) for more mellow singletrack.

[lovelylibrarian]

Thanks. I've actually gone to China Camp. I enjoyed it but it wasn't terribly challenging. (I know. I need to make up my mind!) I'll keep challenging myself though. It's really nice to see myself making progress.