1 Million Feet Elevation Challenge Update

[Bici-Sonora]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

After I embarked on this, I heard of a local woman who climbed 2 million feet last year. In her Strava bio, she says: "I climbed 2 million ft last year and all I got was really tired." I feel that way occasionally between rides, but on the bike I feel pretty fresh, and the goal is keeping me motivated.

Snip:

Color me super impressed with your goal and 2021 progress. I think I'm most impressed with your 4k a day average. I don't know how you keep it up. At 54, the day after a day of 4-6k feet of climbing, all I'm good for is a recovery ride--certainly not another 4k of climbing! I have done back to back to back days of big climbing while touring, and kind of got used to it after about a week, but that was with no other job but to ride all day.

You must be in So Cal or AZ or somewhere else warmish to be racking up all these miles in Jan/Feb.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

As a part of our mutual admiration society, let me say that I am a huge fan of your rides. Every one of them qualifies as epic in my book. They're long, hella hilly, multi-surfaced, and offer amazing views. And, to boot, you're fast. Not just fast for 63 -- fast. I'm a big cgolvin fan.

Very kind of you, and the appreciation is mutual. It's interesting to me how different our approaches are. I was thinking about your comment above today as I did a couple of ~1 mile double digit climbs -- because no way could I do those in zone 2. I tried to keep it in zone 3 and was only partially successful.

[Waldo62]

Snip:

Originally Posted by Bici-Sonora

You must be in So Cal or AZ or somewhere else warmish to be racking up all these miles in Jan/Feb.

I am in Oakland, CA. Staying on the Oakland-Berkeley side of the hills, where it's warmer by good 7-8 degrees than in Contra Costa County in pre-dawn hours. Yesterday, a friend and I did the Redwood-Pinehurst loop at 6:00 am, and we ended up riding for 20 minutes in sub-freezing temps, for which we weren't dressed.

[party time]

Wow shocking to do 4k feet per day with kids and a job. That seems like a lot of stress on your body! Do you plan to take something like a rest-week to try and clear some fatigue? Or do you find the 1 rest day is enough? I also can't imagine climbing a 12% grade in zone 2

I'm almost more interested in your (and cgolvin!) daily routine than the cycling? How much do you sleep, what is your diet like, what does your daily routine look like?

kudos gentlmen

[Waldo62]

Originally Posted by party time

Wow shocking to do 4k feet per day with kids and a job. That seems like a lot of stress on your body! Do you plan to take something like a rest-week to try and clear some fatigue? Or do you find the 1 rest day is enough? I also can't imagine climbing a 12% grade in zone 2

I'm almost more interested in your (and cgolvin!) daily routine than the cycling? How much do you sleep, what is your diet like, what does your daily routine look like?

kudos gentlmen

I am an omnivore. I've always had high metabolism, so weight is not an issue. I try to stay off refined sugar, but am often unsuccessful at that.
Caffeine is essential for normal function, but I only drink tea and only in the morning. I sleep 5-6 hours a night, which leaves plenty of pre-dawn time to ride. Because I ride at relatively low RPE levels I don't feel like I need rest days very often. I ride 12-13 days every two weeks.

My 7-year old is in a 10-5 microschool/pod right now, so, mercifully, we don't have to pretend to be home-school teachers and parents during our work-from-home days. This helps A LOT. My older kid is away at college, so minimal parenting effort required there, now that financial aid forms for the next academic year have been completed.

[shrimp123]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

Snip:

I am in Oakland, CA. Staying on the Oakland-Berkeley side of the hills, where it's warmer by good 7-8 degrees than in Contra Costa County in pre-dawn hours. Yesterday, a friend and I did the Redwood-Pinehurst loop at 6:00 am, and we ended up riding for 20 minutes in sub-freezing temps, for which we weren't dressed.

I am on the other side of redwood rd (Pleasanton). Once the covid situation ends, i would love to see if our speeds match up. I have a similar goal of 300mi+25k elevation per week. so far, i have missed it one week.
i sure can use some motivation seeing your progress.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by party time

I'm almost more interested in your (and cgolvin!) daily routine than the cycling? How much do you sleep, what is your diet like, what does your daily routine look like?

Like Waldo, I'm an omnivore. I'm fortunate that my wife cooks most dinners and she's very health-minded, so primarily poultry for protein, some fish and some vegetarian, only red meat when I grill or takeout. On the days that I ride I always have oatmeal with walnuts, raisins, and granola for breakfast. Even on days that I ride I don't eat much lunch, typically some fruit and nuts. I sleep about 8 hours, not a crack of dawn riser. Since my work load is very light these days and my kids are grown I basically just ride once I'm ready in the morning.

FWIW, I'm terrible about nutrition once I'm riding. I will usually eat 3-6 Clif Bloks in a typical ride, possibly adding a bar on longer/bigger days (i.e., >8k'). I could probably be better on hydration too, but I've gotten better about that. And, I hate to stop once I'm riding, basically only for food/water, biological, mechanical, and the occasional photo op.

Sorry, probably TMI.

[Waldo62]

PM sent.

Originally Posted by shrimp123

I am on the other side of redwood rd (Pleasanton). Once the covid situation ends, i would love to see if our speeds match up. I have a similar goal of 300mi+25k elevation per week. so far, i have missed it one week.
i sure can use some motivation seeing your progress.

[barnabyjones]

One of my riding buddies used to regularly run into a guy who lives in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and was on track to gain 3M in elevation back in 2016 or 17. The guy was becoming Strava famous and would ride with two Garmins just in case one died. What I found most extraordinary was not the consistency but the singlemindedness of his riding. Monday through Friday he'd get up at 5am and climb Chantry Flats 5-8x in order to get back in time to get his kids ready for school. Then on weekends he'd probably average 250 miles on longer climbs with another 20k in elevation. He hit 2M around September but paused to finally have a long deferred surgery. For the longest time I believed this gentleman had been a famous jockey in Scotland but he was actually a handyman who had exercised horses at the Santa Anita track before he took up riding.

https://www.strava.com/segments/5757784

[cgolvin]

Hit my goal on today's ride, coincidentally on my Eroica build. Also coincidentally, and something to which I've paid zero attention this year, I passed 9k miles ridden (maintaining a good ratio). Thanks to @waldo62 for his continued encouragement during the year, once he got taken out by that deer I felt extra motivation to hit the mark in camaraderie.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Hit my goal on today's ride, coincidentally on my Eroica build. Also coincidentally, and something to which I've paid zero attention this year, I passed 9k miles ridden (maintaining a good ratio). Thanks to @waldo62 for his continued encouragement during the year, once he got taken out by that deer I felt extra motivation to hit the mark in camaraderie.

Congratulations!!!

[mhespenheide]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Hit my goal on today's ride, coincidentally on my Eroica build. Also coincidentally, and something to which I've paid zero attention this year, I passed 9k miles ridden (maintaining a good ratio). Thanks to @waldo62 for his continued encouragement during the year, once he got taken out by that deer I felt extra motivation to hit the mark in camaraderie.

Well done!

[NHAero]

You and Waldo are both mega-awesome! Congrats!!! And on the Gios, yes?

You're getting 3X the elevation per mile than I get on MV. Wow.

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Hit my goal on today's ride, coincidentally on my Eroica build. Also coincidentally, and something to which I've paid zero attention this year, I passed 9k miles ridden (maintaining a good ratio). Thanks to @waldo62 for his continued encouragement during the year, once he got taken out by that deer I felt extra motivation to hit the mark in camaraderie.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Congrats!!! And on the Gios, yes?

Thanks very much, I appreciate it.
To be clear, only today was on the Gios. Distribution is roughly Peg > Ottrott >>> Gios.

[AngryScientist]

That's quite impressive. Good work man, seriously.