1,000,000' Halfway Update

[Waldo62]

As the thread title says, I'm half done with my quest to climb a million feet in 2021, having gotten there two weeks ahead of schedule. I didn't know what to expect when I set out on this journey, but I've learned a lot about geography of crappily surfaced streets of Oakland hills; local topography (the steeper, the better); become intimately acquainted with my bikes' left-most rear cog; watched my quads swell; realized that I can't do hill repeats for days on end, so decided to climb the steepest local hills one after another instead; and feel that I have become stronger, but slower. This morning's crossing into the second half of the journey left me elated and motivated to climb more. I am very grateful to cgolvin, who, in his own pursuit of 1M feet, has been very supportive, as well as to FlashUNC and to XXTwindude for their real and virtual company and encouragement. Coincidentally, I'm 460 miles ahead of my goal to ride 8,000 miles this year, but this is truly seconday to the climbing goal.

Onward and upward.

[cgolvin]

Chapeau/kudos/<whatever_the_Russian_equivalent_is> Vlad! Really impressed.

I'm still 50k behind you but on track to hit the halfway point by the end of the month, though this heatwave is proving an impediment.

[MattTuck]

That is great! What is the tour's cumulative gain? 150K feet? You're doing multiple times that... crazy.

[XXtwindad]

Kudos! Upon completion of your goal, you have a pair of brown cycling bibs coming your way. Because brown is the new orange.

[DeBike]

Wow! That is a lot of climbing and a challenging goal. I hardly ever climb, due to it being so flat where I live. Last year, I set a goal of 7300 miles to give me an average of 20 miles a day. I wound up with right at 8000.

I did not set a goal, per se, this year, other than hitting 5000 miles for the 5th consecutive year. I have been taking quite a few days off, and so, I am a bit behind. I hope to be at 2000 at the end of June, last year 4200.

Kudos to you and those that are supporting you. I have found that, for me, not having a goal makes it easier to just not ride on any given day. The good thing about days off? My legs feel refreshed and strong and my speed has been a higher average, though I really do not concentrate on that. Keep us all up to date.

[prototoast]

Awesome, dude. Keep it up.

[Waldo62]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Kudos! Upon completion of your goal, you have a pair of brown cycling bibs coming your way. Because brown is the new orange.

Is that factory brown? dyed by you externally? internally?

[Louis]

Congratulations - that's already a great accomplishment.

So I have two questions:

1) If your primary goal is simply to rack up climbing feet, what have you found is the most efficient way (in terms of time and wear and tear on your body) to do it?

2) And have you found what works best for you has been changing as you get deeper and deeper (so to speak) into the challenge, and are presumably becoming a better climber?

A) Long, gradual climbs?
B) Medium grades?
C) Steeper climbs that give you a lot of feet in not that many miles?

BTW, it's a good thing you don't use the metric system...

[Waldo62]

1) In term of physical impact, I realized early on that I have to be a tortoise. Except for a rare occasion when I am motivated to sprint over a roller whose length I know well, I climb seated and steadily. Riding hard will leave a short and medium-term impact on the legs and cardiovascular system, so I ride within myself as much as possible. This approach leaves me fresh enough to ride about 6.5 days a week. Strava took 1 million and divided it into 365, resulting in ~2750' a day. I try to do at least 500' a day more than that to build up a surplus because I anticipate smoky air once the fire season begins in earnest, illness, injuries, demotivation, travel, etc. that will leave me unable to ride.

2) I have about 2:00-2:30 a day to ride and try to be as efficient as possible, which means climbing double-digit hills. I can fall out of bed and ride uphill for 30 minutes. Riding steeps gets me more elevation faster. I've installed cassettes with lower gears and have been wearing them out. The low gears seem to preserve my legs without overtaxing my cardiovascular system. The legs feel worse off the bike than on it. I used to walk about 45 minutes a day from the bus to the office and back and during lunch, but now I work from the bed or from the couch, so although I'm resting a lot, I'm completely unused to ambulation and getting up from the couch is weirdly diffficult.

Originally Posted by Louis

Congratulations - that's already a great accomplishment.

So I have two questions:

1) If your primary goal is simply to rack up climbing feet, what have you found is the most efficient way (in terms of time and wear and tear on your body) to do it?

2) And have you found what works best for you has been changing as you get deeper and deeper (so to speak) into the challenge, and are presumably becoming a better climber?

A) Long, gradual climbs?
B) Medium grades?
C) Steeper climbs that give you a lot of feet in not that many miles?

BTW, it's a good thing you don't use the metric system...

[poff]

Did 1M once without climbing South Park 10X every day.


Last 4 Weeks
Avg Rides / Week 7
Avg Distance / Week 114 mi
Avg Time / Week 11h 1m
Distance 7,794.4 mi
Time 665h 55m
Elev Gain 1,064,377 ft
Rides 300
All-Time
Distance 59,651.6 mi

[MarinRider]

Chapeau! Well done.

I too am trying to 1M feet this year. Between kids, a full time job, and other family obligations, consistency at this level is hard to maintain. I was on pace towards end of April until life happened. 4 weeks of “just” riding 2-3 times a week put me way behind pace. June brought more consistency but still digging out of the hole.

Good luck next quarter and hope everyone have a great summer with lots of saddle time.

[reuben]

You two are monsters. Absolutely pure white hot awesome monsters.

When the aliens try to subjugate us, I'm pretty sure that they'll give you two a pass.

[poff]

In East Bay I found that the following works best for me as I live across Tilden and work in downtown Berkeley. In the morning, I climb El Toyonal/Lomas Cantadas/Volmer peak for 1,800ft on the way to the office and I climb Claremont/Volmer peak for 1,700ft on the way back home 5 working days. Then I do two rides on the weekend with no less than 10K ft in total.

[Hilltopwalters]

You are my hero. Wow. Wow. As someone who's obsessed with climbing but doesn't have a lot of access to consistent elevation this is just awesome. Godspeed, my dude.

[Clean39T]

We need a rolling ticker update on this.....