znfdl
04-10-2008, 08:21 PM
Well Too Tall is right. If you want to get in shape ride your bike. I am lucky enough to have a loving and understanding wife that let me take a 2 week cycling vacation in Arizona and New Mexico. The support of my wife will let my dream of riding in RAAM come true. During the two weeks, I rode just under 1,400 miles and has put me in great shape.. I can honestly say that Tom Kellogg designed a frame that fits so well, that I did not have any back or neck pains during the two weeks.
Week 1:
On Saturday, I did my own ride around Tucson. Great cycling city, as it has numerous bike lanes. Had an interesting ride, as part of the ride I ran into a cycling team training ride for 2 hours, climbed up 10 miles of Mt. Lemmon and rode through Suguaro National Park for a total of 110 miles.
On Sunday, the group rode from Tucson to Sierra Vista into a steady headwind with lots of climbing for a total of 86 miles. I pulled a group for the first 22 miles and then bade them farewell, when we hit the climb up Old Sonoita Road.
Monday was a climbing day for me, as the group did the Sierra Vista - Bisbee Loop. We had an optional climb up to Coronado Monument, which was a nice steady climb. The next 20 miles was into a stiff headwind, as I was doing 14mph while holding between 225-280 watts. Not my idea of fun. The town of Bisbee is great, as it has an old copper mine, which is a huge hole in the ground and is a fabulous artist community. It also has a nice 5 mile climb up Mule Pass, which I did three times for a good hill repeat climbing workout.
Tuesday: Took a day off and spent time in Bisbee, Az. This is a neat artist community. I bought my wife a metal sculpture and spent time at the bicycle brothel.
Wednesday did the double metric and buried myself. The ride through the fort was quite beautiful. As usual, I had my head down on a particular nice stretch of road and missed a turn. For missing the turn, I had particular nice 14 mile down hill, which in turn was a 14 mile uphill. Well at least it was sunny, windy and 75F. Going through Fort Huchacua, a Special Forces guy on a Harley let me draft him for 4-5 miles at 35mph. I just love a man in a uniform that lets me draft him. I ended up doing a 7:25 double metric, which had lots of climbing and substantial amount of headwinds and tailwinds.
Thursday the group did the Bisbee - Tombstone loop which was 80 miles long. The loop did the Mule Pass the steep side. Well, I can definitely say that Too Tall's power program has helped my climbing, as I climbed the steep side on average 4mph faster than last year. Thanks big guy. I did 3 more hill repeats and imploded on the last ascent. It took me almost 20 miles to recover. I guess 50 miles of climbing in two days can do that to a person.
Friday: The group rode from Sierra Vista to Tucson, which has about 20 miles of downhill. This ride was a welcome relief after a hard week.
Saturday: Recovery Day. I met up with a bunch of friends return that I ride the Mountain Tour with every year. This group is historically much stronger that the riders in the previous week. My friends from Bakersfield, Ca. arrived with an additional 6 friends in tow. Two friends from Minnesota also returned and I roomed with one of them. Several other friends also returned, such as Dan from Sitka, Alaka, Jill from Portland among others.
Week 2: My concentration for this week is to ride a steady fast tempo. The leaving time for the group is a half hour interval. My game for the week was to leave last and see how many riders that I can reel in during the ride. There were 64 riders on the tour.
Day 1: Tucson to Sierra Vista
Hard day, lots of climbing into a head wind. Most of the groups had a 16.7-16.8 mph average, while I came in 16 even. I managed to reel in all but 10 riders
Day 2: Sierra Vista to Douglas
It was a hard day for me as I felt as I was running on empty all day. I did the Mule Pass Climb and then stopped in Bisbee at the Bisbee Coffee Company. After Bisbee, the ride has a really nice downhill (15 miles). To finish the ride I rode an easy tempo to the hotel.
Day 3: Douglas to Lordsburg
Nice day. I had a hard time getting my legs to go for the first 18 or so miles. A group came by and hopped onto the back for 5 miles which awakened my legs. Rest of the day rode solo (but had one wheel sucker) with a fast tempo to complete a sub 5 hour century.
Day 4: Lordsburg to Safford
This day was an initial fast tempo day on fairly flat roads. Climb started at mile 59 at 8% and decreased to 5%. There was a 10 mph head wind on the climb. My legs felt really good and started to ride a fast tempo at 22-23mph for the remainder of the ride. This day, I reeled in the whole group.
Day 5: Safford to Wilcox
Normal riding day 89 miles, extra climb 115 miles. The extra miles were to climb up Mt Graham. Mt Graham is a beautiful 26 mile climb with pitches ranging from 5% to 10%. Was a very nice 2.5 hr climb. The real shock came when I had to do a 12 mile climb up to lunch with a 20 mph headwind.
Day 6: Wilcox to Tombstone
Another century plus day on mostly flat roads, but with a few long 3-5% climbs. During this ride, I got the name metronome, as I pulled a number of people all day. For a 30 mile stretch I maintained a 22-24 mph pace with a cadence between 88 & 92. Have to say I felt really good. This day I reeled in all but 2 riders.
Day 7: Tombstone to Tucson
This ride was very similar to the last day of the previous week. Just rode my own tempo.
Week 1:
On Saturday, I did my own ride around Tucson. Great cycling city, as it has numerous bike lanes. Had an interesting ride, as part of the ride I ran into a cycling team training ride for 2 hours, climbed up 10 miles of Mt. Lemmon and rode through Suguaro National Park for a total of 110 miles.
On Sunday, the group rode from Tucson to Sierra Vista into a steady headwind with lots of climbing for a total of 86 miles. I pulled a group for the first 22 miles and then bade them farewell, when we hit the climb up Old Sonoita Road.
Monday was a climbing day for me, as the group did the Sierra Vista - Bisbee Loop. We had an optional climb up to Coronado Monument, which was a nice steady climb. The next 20 miles was into a stiff headwind, as I was doing 14mph while holding between 225-280 watts. Not my idea of fun. The town of Bisbee is great, as it has an old copper mine, which is a huge hole in the ground and is a fabulous artist community. It also has a nice 5 mile climb up Mule Pass, which I did three times for a good hill repeat climbing workout.
Tuesday: Took a day off and spent time in Bisbee, Az. This is a neat artist community. I bought my wife a metal sculpture and spent time at the bicycle brothel.
Wednesday did the double metric and buried myself. The ride through the fort was quite beautiful. As usual, I had my head down on a particular nice stretch of road and missed a turn. For missing the turn, I had particular nice 14 mile down hill, which in turn was a 14 mile uphill. Well at least it was sunny, windy and 75F. Going through Fort Huchacua, a Special Forces guy on a Harley let me draft him for 4-5 miles at 35mph. I just love a man in a uniform that lets me draft him. I ended up doing a 7:25 double metric, which had lots of climbing and substantial amount of headwinds and tailwinds.
Thursday the group did the Bisbee - Tombstone loop which was 80 miles long. The loop did the Mule Pass the steep side. Well, I can definitely say that Too Tall's power program has helped my climbing, as I climbed the steep side on average 4mph faster than last year. Thanks big guy. I did 3 more hill repeats and imploded on the last ascent. It took me almost 20 miles to recover. I guess 50 miles of climbing in two days can do that to a person.
Friday: The group rode from Sierra Vista to Tucson, which has about 20 miles of downhill. This ride was a welcome relief after a hard week.
Saturday: Recovery Day. I met up with a bunch of friends return that I ride the Mountain Tour with every year. This group is historically much stronger that the riders in the previous week. My friends from Bakersfield, Ca. arrived with an additional 6 friends in tow. Two friends from Minnesota also returned and I roomed with one of them. Several other friends also returned, such as Dan from Sitka, Alaka, Jill from Portland among others.
Week 2: My concentration for this week is to ride a steady fast tempo. The leaving time for the group is a half hour interval. My game for the week was to leave last and see how many riders that I can reel in during the ride. There were 64 riders on the tour.
Day 1: Tucson to Sierra Vista
Hard day, lots of climbing into a head wind. Most of the groups had a 16.7-16.8 mph average, while I came in 16 even. I managed to reel in all but 10 riders
Day 2: Sierra Vista to Douglas
It was a hard day for me as I felt as I was running on empty all day. I did the Mule Pass Climb and then stopped in Bisbee at the Bisbee Coffee Company. After Bisbee, the ride has a really nice downhill (15 miles). To finish the ride I rode an easy tempo to the hotel.
Day 3: Douglas to Lordsburg
Nice day. I had a hard time getting my legs to go for the first 18 or so miles. A group came by and hopped onto the back for 5 miles which awakened my legs. Rest of the day rode solo (but had one wheel sucker) with a fast tempo to complete a sub 5 hour century.
Day 4: Lordsburg to Safford
This day was an initial fast tempo day on fairly flat roads. Climb started at mile 59 at 8% and decreased to 5%. There was a 10 mph head wind on the climb. My legs felt really good and started to ride a fast tempo at 22-23mph for the remainder of the ride. This day, I reeled in the whole group.
Day 5: Safford to Wilcox
Normal riding day 89 miles, extra climb 115 miles. The extra miles were to climb up Mt Graham. Mt Graham is a beautiful 26 mile climb with pitches ranging from 5% to 10%. Was a very nice 2.5 hr climb. The real shock came when I had to do a 12 mile climb up to lunch with a 20 mph headwind.
Day 6: Wilcox to Tombstone
Another century plus day on mostly flat roads, but with a few long 3-5% climbs. During this ride, I got the name metronome, as I pulled a number of people all day. For a 30 mile stretch I maintained a 22-24 mph pace with a cadence between 88 & 92. Have to say I felt really good. This day I reeled in all but 2 riders.
Day 7: Tombstone to Tucson
This ride was very similar to the last day of the previous week. Just rode my own tempo.