Once again, my posts are far between. I have spoken to a few of you that have actually ventured to this page and I appreciate the support and "rave reviews". To all I apologize that there have not been more posts. The balance between work, family and, yes, the heavy training I am trying to get in has been more of a challenge than I ever thought.
So, what have I been doing the past month? Work has never been busier- new managers, new brands, new accounts....the waterfall that never ends. But its a good thing. Thankful for work in today's economy for sure! Beth and I drove to Oregon and back in a 3 day period to get our daughter, Jenna, from U of O. Mother in law visits, training a new puppie, all the other things that come with the territory. How do I fit in training? It is not easy and its tough on those close to me. I literally try to "steal" in a ride in between all my obligations and, with just a little more than a month before "the BIG RIDE", I have been needing to step my game up.
I recently joined a Yahoo group with other Leadville entrants. To read some of the posts I get has both discouraged and motivated all at the same time. Many of the riders for this race live in or near Colorado. If I took a guess, I would think that 90% of the riders live a mile high. Me? Sea Level. I have done a lot of research into training regiments and read blogs from accomplished endurance coaches. "Live High, Train Low" (sounds like a mantra from the 60's) is "secret" for preparing for this ride which is above 10,000' for most of the time. I've got the "train low" part down good as that's where I live and ride. The altitude piece to this whole race is the big question mark for me and how I prepare. So, when I put my training calendar together, I planned 3 times to be at altitude, aka "live high".
Thus, having a place in Mammoth Lakes, CA, (which is at 8,000') is one ace up my sleeve. Beth and I came up here Memorial Day weekend and I trained solid then. See my posts 2 back for more info. As of this post I am sitting in my condo at Mammoth on day 3 of training at altitude. Yesterday I rode to 10,250' at Deadman's Summit (the pictures with the snow)and I have 3 more solid days planned. The snow is still on many of the trails and so I am doing more road riding than mounatin biking. I have a 120+ mile ride planned for tomorrow with close to 15,000' of climbing planned. This will be my ulitmate prep for Leadville.
Last week was the real test so far. On the day before the 4th of July, I drove out to Hemet, CA, known more as a retirement community, at the base of Mt San Jacinto. I connected a ride that my BetterRides friend, Wendy (and 5 time Leadville rider...listed as the oldest women to ever finish the race at 66 years young!) had recommmended to a road I found leading out of Hemet. I call it the Rouse Hill-Thomson Mountain Truck Trail. I got a late start to the day and so the sun was already fully blazing and not a cloud in the sky. The soft, rocky dirt jeep trail immediately climbed from just under 2,000' to the top of Rouse Hill at 5,000'(not really a hill...more like a freakin' mountain!). Along the way I played mind games and counted the snake trails across the soft dirt. 10-15-20-25...holy smokes, I hope all I see are tracks and not the real thing!
After the fist mountain summit, I immediately started up towards Thomson Mtn at 6,500'. All along the way, not another biker (who would be so stupid to ride in this heat....it was easily over 90 degrees) and barely a few jeeper's were on the road. At least no snakes (yet). I was exposed to the sun the entire time and the heat did take its toll on me. I was also testing out some new nutrition products specifically geared towards endurance riding. This ride was about seeing where I was at in my training and adjusting nutrition intake so I would be more prepared, through experience, for the big day. On hindsight, I can say water intake needed to be doubled that day primarliy due to the heat.
I finally made the top and it was well deserved. 20 miles of straight climbing and already 6,000+ feet of elevation gain. After a rest at a unimproved campground, I took off on a wonderfully needed downhill loop that ran the upper circumference of Thomson Mtn. Eventually I had to climb back up the north side of the mountain to intersect the trail that I originally came up. The entire ride was an out and back with a big 20 mile loop around the mountain. That last climb was a bear as it was right into the hot sun and the trail was loose and rocky with some steep pitches. I finally rejoined the trail that took me down what I once slugged up and it was a ton of well deserved fun. I had to be careeful due to the trail conditions as well as always being on the look out for wild off roaders and...snakes! After counting more than 30 tracks (I gave up long ago...) I came across a rock in the trail the I decided to go over instead of around. It was placed perfect in the middle of the road and large enough that I thought I'd have a little fun and launch off it. Good thing I did because just on the other side was a rattlesnake laid out in full length. I cleared it cleanly and never looked back. That encounter put me on snake alert for the rest of the ride down.
I got to the end of the ride at about 4:30. Ooops. That's over an hour AFTER the time I told Beth I would be home. Oh, and it's still 90 mintues drive to home. Yes, I underestimated the challenge of this ride. All in all, though, I was pleased with how I rode and how I persevered through the conditions. Stats of the ride: 55 miles, 9,000' elevation gain, 6 hours 45 minutes in the saddle. Not the pace I want but I wasn't pushing myself that way, either.
After that ride, I woke up the next morning in San Diego on 4th of July and rode in an annual local's ride called "Old Pro's" ride. A fun 50 miler in North County, it's a great road ride with people of all ages and skill. I even saw one guy on roller blades. I went to bed sore the night before and thought I wouldn't be able to answer the bell. I had committed to a few friends, like "Special Ed", and so I got my gear together in a rush and made it to the start just as the announcer set the group off riding. After a rusty 10 minute warm up, I actually found my legs and ended up having a great ride. To do so after such a suffering ride as I had the day before gave me a confidence boast. For that I enjoyed a beer at 10am in the beer garden and meet up with past Arthritis FOundation CCC riders....that was a treat!
On reflection after a weekend of tough riding, I thought- "maybe my training is coming along". So, like my old college days, I am cramming for my final's, getting as many miles and feet climbed as I can in the next 4 weeks. I will post feedback from each week of training. Let's first see how I do tomorrow on the "big test"!
Until then....
