Last Sunday, the 11th, I rode up to and 5 miles past Mammoth. Just a bit over 125 miles in total. It was a pretty good ride, especially considering the amount of climbing, which was over 5000 feet. The thing about living in a valley is that if you're going to do a significantly long ride, you kind of have to climb. First I climbed up Oracle Rd until the top of what I now call Mammoth Mtn. I'm not sure anyone else calls it that, but it is a climb of about 2200ft in 12 miles. No, it's not a killer, but I'm pretty sure it would be categorized if it were on the Tour de France. Zipping down it was fun & I topped out just over 52mph, if that gives you any idea of how steep it is in places. Not super curvy like Mt. Lemmon, though, which was nice because by time I reached the top of the descent, I was ready to just plop my forearms on the tops & rest my hands & triceps on the way down. I cruised through the town of Mammoth and rode until I was 60 miles out; I wanted to be sure to break at least 120. So right at 60m I turned around & rode up a gentle slope back to Mammoth. Luckily for me there's a Circle K at the base of Mammoth Mtn--a wonderful place to refuel with a Twix & a Java Monster. After 20-30 minutes of climbing the calories were hitting home & I was climbing so well (for me) that it almost felt like cheating. My goal was to reach the summit by sundown, which meant I had to average 6mph on the climb. I held 9mph & made it all the way back to Catalina, and another Circle K!, before I had to stop to put on lights. Okay, so it was pretty dark by then, but the point is that I underestimated my climbing ability...hmm...just like I did on El Tour de Tucson.
Well, once reaching the top of Mammoth Mtn., there a nice, very long 2% downward grade & either no wind or a light tailwind, so I pretty much flew back to Tucson, aside from the stop in Catalina to become 'night-ready.' At Oracle & Ina I could've headed back but instead I decided to turn right & go down to Thornydale, then cirlce around on River. Was this to get a few more miles in? Yes. Was this to avoid the climbing I would've done if I'd taken Ina east instead of west? Mayyyyybe. In the end it took me 8:50 moving time, but I was also stopped for 1:35 total. That's a lot, but a big chunk of it was at REI as I was heading out of town. And, um, thank goodness for REI! Their public bathroom was a lifesaver, and that's all I'll say about that.
Immediately after the ride I was tired, of course, and the next day I just felt wiped out. But I felt like my legs recovered pretty quickly, and frankly, I think that if I'd kept riding & eating, I could've gone a bit further. Maybe not much further, but at least a few more miles. Training-wise, though, the ride was pretty much perfect. I overloaded myself...my legs, heart, metabolism, everything...to just the right point. I didn't injure myself and I recovered fairly quickly, so that tells me that I pushed to just the right limits to allow for improvement. Psychologically it was encouraging, too. I climbed strong, finished strong, and rode a few more miles than I originally planned to. So despite a crazy long ride, I still felt (and feel) like riding. Contrast this to the cold & wet 46m ride I took a few weeks ago. That feeling lingered & I didn't really 'want' to get on the bike anytime soon after that.
Anyway, I worry that I've gone too long now without riding. It's been a crazy week. The weather has been cold & stormy at times. It rained for 2 days! Which caused a leak in our roof. Which caused me to have to be at home (or near home) to let the roofer in to check it out. And which caused me, today, to have to be at home for the roof repair guys. And then there was the 24hr work marathon I did Weds night through Thurs night. So now I've been off the bike for 5 days. I'd ride tomorrow, but we have to go down to Randy's to get "The Machine." I'd ride Sunday but it's supposed to rain (again!). If the weather holds, I will def ride Sunday. And if for some reason Randy cancels, I'll ride tomorrow. But right now it's looking like Monday, which will mean a full 7 days off the bike. That's certainly enough time to lose fitness for shorter events. But how will that affect an endurance ride?
I'll have to work out the balance between resting just enough to allow full recover & rebuilding versus resting too long & losing fitness. I'm pretty sure that waiting over a week is waiting too long! I'd like to take a long ride, rest for 3 days, then take a short ride & rest for two days. Seems like that would give me enough time to recover & build up w/o overdoing it. Of course life comes with other obligations that have to be worked in. The balance is going to be hard to strike.
However, I do believe that the bike fit is pretty dialed in. Yeah, my ass was sore afterwards, but I didn't have any chaffing or saddle sores. That's the first win. The second is that my hands didn't get too bad. The outer two fingers on each hand did become more numb & tingly than before riding, but it wasn't really too bad. I think that 115m ride kinda fucked my hands up, because I still have a bit of Guyon's Syndrome, but within 24hrs of finishing the 125, the sensation was back to the pre-ride level, which is where it is now, 5 days later. So maybe I did a bit of semi-permanent damage??? Hopefully over time it will subside.
So the bike fit is pretty solid. The saddle's in the right spot, and the excessive padding on my handlebars seems to help a lot. But it get's better! The carbon Topeak seatpost rack & trunk fit everything I needed for my ride, which included some extra layers that take up prime real estate. And by attaching the rack as high as I could on the post, my thigh don't rub the rack mount. If I slide back on the saddle I can feel the trunk, but that's really no big deal. And anyway, this may be an issue for brevets but when it comes to racing the Cochise & other ultra's, I'll have sag to carry all the extra stuff.
What's next? Well, as soon as I'm able I want to try for 135. It's the next logical step. My mind is becoming just a bit boggled by the distances I'm attempting. Traveling in one direction, I could've ridden to Phoenix last week. These rides are getting long...and I'm rather enjoying that. I just wonder where to head to next? A few things really help my rides. First, I think it's important for me to plan a bathroom about an hour in. Second, starting with several miles of flat terrain seems to help my pulse stay lower for the entire ride. And of course, I obviously need refueling stops every 30 miles or so. I can probably train myself over the need to start out so easy. The real challenge here is my digestive system. It takes me a couple hours just to get out the door because I have to wait, and wait, until I've...vacated a few times. And even then, like last week, I sometimes find that I really, really need one more stop after I've started riding. This problem is more of a challenge. Perhaps my diet the day before could help somewhat, but I have to eat enough to maintain legs & a liver full of carbs. So what's the answer? Let's hope one presents itself in time. Right now I think it's just smart of me to plan on going by a trusted rest stop early in the ride.
Due to the extreme nature of my training, I have ordered Skin's compression recovery tights and Skin's compression active calf sleeves. My claves, mostly my left achilles, give me the most trouble so I'm trying to give them a bit of help in staying strong & not locking up during rides & then healing afterwards. We'll see how well these things work...hopefully really well. I was hoping that they'd be here before my next big ride, but due to a shipping delay I will HOPEFULLY be riding before they get here.
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