PPM by 2010

U.S. gran prix of cyclocross from Jim Fryer/BrakeThrough Media on Vimeo.

Had my first training with the team today. The session was taught by Brandon...holy cow there is a lot to learn! We started with the basics of course...like dismounting both with the foot on the outside and the inside (into a stride where the right foot goes on the inside between the left foot on the pedal. We then moved onto more advanced stuff like shouldering the bike and picking up the bike like a suitcase...all interesting and new. I have been practicing the dismount most of the summer which helped but i never really knew how to correctly pick up the bike and certainly did not know how to shoulder the bike correctly where the right hand holds the handlebars after hefting the thing with the right hand on the downtube while still moving. Honestly I felt confident with most of the dismount stuff but really struggled with the shouldering and the proper method to get the bike off the shoulder and on the ground without dropping a chain. Man, this is so different than anything I have ever done... My HR was pegged doing these drills up and down a soccer field. Unbelievable. We also did mounts of course which were hard and then culminated with starts and then work with the cross props barriers. I am definitely glad to have had a some instruction before just jumping in without knowing anything. Can't wait to try this in a race without more practice of course. There is another drill session next week (north boulder about 20 minutes from the house by car and 40 by bike) and then after that there is a fast group that practices by the house on the local cross course (where i did my short track race this spring). So, one more week of drill and then fast race laps trying not to get lapped! Sounds like a plan.

The ride up Lee Hill was as tough as it seemed from riding down it last week. It is a lot longer than Old Stage overall and Lee’s first pitch is definitely as steep as the steepest part of OS. Overall climbed fairly well up Lee, kept the pace fairly consistent most of the way up. Never had to stand much to keep things moving, just a steady incline.

After landing back on Left Hand I could definitely feel a little bit of fatigue in the legs…took about a mile or so to shake out the lactic. After a few miles finally hit Lick Skillet. At the start these is a little sign that warns of a “narrow, steep”dirt road. I was a bit worried about the traction as I had my 700x23 road wheels on the bike. However, these proved no problem on the fairly packed dirt road. The incline seemed fine for a bit right up until the one and only real switch back. At this point the road just became ridiculous. I was starting to think that it was not my day as I had to take a couple of breaks on the way up as well as some traversing back and forth…even with the 34 little ring coupled with the 32cog. What I latter discovered is that this road is the “the steepest county road in the United States” according to Wikipedia. It climbs just under a 1000 feet in a mile and a half for an average grade of 15% for over a mile…and all this on dirt road. So, after finding this out after getting home I felt a lot better.

Overall this was my hardest ride to date and it was just at 43 miles! Finishing, I returned home feeling like I had run 15+ miles in the heat…really just tired and whipped. I wonder if this had to do with my choice of calories for the ride other than the climbing of course. I gave Hammer Perpetuam a try using one of the single use packets. Based on my current weight I needed to do about 8 table spoons of mix for one bottle. Mixed it up and I was off. I definitely like the convenience of just sipping from a bottle rather than sucking down a gel, however I did notice that my stomach was a bit ugly during parts of the ride and then after the ride I was definitely uncomfortable for a few hours. So, I am thinking that the gels work better for me at this point. I do still need to try coach Keith’s method of a NUUN tablet coupled with Carbo Load (sp.) in a bottle. I do know that the tablets work great along with gels, so we will see if his mix is better than the Hammer Stuff.

Did a Ward attempt today. Never really thought I would make it given my current speed and the time I had...especially starting and finishing from home.

Regardless, felt good overall starting with a climb up Old Stage to Left Hand and then Left Hand to the 11 mile marker and then back via Lee Hill. The Garmin had this at 4400 feet of elevation gain overall. Not a bad gain really. Average speed of just over 17 for the ride and 11.4 for the Left Hand part of the ride. This pace is significantly slower than the king of the mountains riders who did the entire Ward Climb from 28th to the Peak to Peak in just over an hour...which is of course around 15-16 mph. Wow!

Found a new route for some point in the future. Limonysnick (sp) Road takes a left off of Left Hand and stops in Gold Hill. This would be a great connector to keeps things interesting. The descent from Gold Hill would either be Sunshine or 4 mile Canyon! Pretty cool except for the narrow dirt road condition of Limony...oh well, at least this part would be uphill!