cfforum

That is blazing fast man. Congratulations. I need to lose 10 lbs before I can even think of numbers like that. Thanks for all the details about your ride. You've definitely set the mark for everyone else to aim for.

I told you there was a tail wind...

Yes, Curtis is correct; I believe my time was assisted by 3-5mph tailwind.

It all went something like this:

I looked out the window from my home office at about 3:00pm and said to myself: "What a beautiful looking day - I think I'll head out for ride". Being Tuesday, it was a hill climb day for me so I geared up, sun screened up and headed out toward the Alexandria Hill Climb route.

I was riding along Iron Point, having a conversation with myself about the Cycle Folsom forum and, in particular, the Beatty Hill Climb topic under the Musings category.

I know every inch of that climb; I've ridden it numerous times. I mentally worked my way up that climb putting together speed and time estimates and eventually convinced myself that - theoretically - I could knock a fair chunck of time off the best posted time on the forum.

It was hot, just a bit over 100 degrees. Just as I was deciding to make a run at the record, I waivered, thinking it's too hot, the air quality isn't that good, etc. I saw that I was beginning to crack mentally before I even reached the hill. So I sandbagged on the Costco Hill climb because I didn't want myself to know that I could see I was weak.

Again, I sandbagged on the long, gradual descent down the Sophia Parkway; just staying on my wheel and "sitting in". I turned right on Alexandria, crested the small hill there and then descended to Beatty road.

I circled once, twice, three times - playing with my gearing, trying to figure our the best gear to be in for the start. I noticed I was a bit uncertain and used that to my advantage; I planned to attack early and often to keep the pressure on for the full .78 miles and 367 verticle feet of the Beatty Hill Climb challenge. That's 284.7 feet per mile; definitely a worthy challenge.

I pushed off from just west of the crosswalk giving myself enough time to get clipped-in and get the comoputer started before crossing the white stripe on the road. Then it was on!

I sprinted up to 22.4 mph very quickly, which put a lot of pressure on me; in fact I could already see that I was getting ahead of myself. As I approached the first pitch I got out of the saddle and down on the drops and hammered hard for about 100 yards to where the road eases before turning right and getting really steep.

That's when I first felt like I was about to fall off the pace I was setting. A few seconds later I shifted down to my 42 tooth ring and 27 tooth gear, got up out of the saddle and back down on the drops and started smashing with everything I had.

About half way up the steepest part of that section of the climb I noticed I was starting to crack. I looked winded, I was bobbing up and down with shaky legs and my arms were burning. Well...I immediately attacked! I moved up quickly and took a long gaze back in my direction to see if I was coming or not; you know, "The look".

Well that sort pissed me off - I responded to the challenge, got on my wheel and put the pressure on. I stayed out of the saddle through steepest part of the climb and then sat down for about 50 yards along the section about 2/3rds of the way up where the grade is less severe. I started wheezing audibly; I sounded asthmatic.

Hearing that, and knowing I was put into difficulty, I immediately jumped back up out of the saddle, shifted to the 21 tooth gear and made a huge move up onto the plateau just before the last climb to the top.

Man, that hurt bad. To make things worse, I responded to that attack and was right back all over my own wheel again. I threw everything at myself but no matter what I did, I just couldn't shake myself. This was turning into an epic battle.

On the final climb to the finish I shifted back to the 27 gear and simply sold out. I'd been at my max heart rate since the 1/2 way point on the hill; I was looking for reserves that didn't exist. Nonetheless, I was able to hold myself off until about 20 meters to the finish, at which point it was everyman for himself in an ugly bike slinging, leg stomping, elbow throwing, knockdown, drag out, sprint for the line.

After all the effort, strategy and tactics it ended in tie. I stopped the computer and then blacked out about 3 bike lengths beyond the finish line and probably laid there for about 2 minutes after regaining consciousness. I must have earned my respect that day though, because for the first since I started racing against myself, I reached out a hand and helped myself up.

I rode about 50 circles around the monument in the middle of the road trying to get my breath back and while doing so checked my computer to see that my time was 4 minutes and 34 seconds...I think I can beat that guy.

Great read Steve. It's amazing how much we can make ourselves suffer. You need to submit that for the Longhammer Ride of the Month...even if it wasn't that long . You mentioned a 42....you ride with a 42 vs. a 39 or a compact? Also, it sounded like you did the first rise in your large chain ring? Dude...you are sounding Pantani-esque (to still a line from Velosnooze).

I have too much hair on my head and my nose isn't big enough (if you know what I mean) to be Marco.

I ride a triple: 52/42/30 chain rings with a 12-27 cluster. I started in 52/19 and shifted to 42/19 for the first staircase, then shifted to 42/21 until after the steepest part of the climb where it eases off a bit. Then I went to 42/21 until I reached the plateau where I went back to the 42/19. I did the final climb in 42/27.

I was in the saddle was for about 100 yards before the first staircase, then not again until the less steep section on the approach to the plateau (for about 50 yards). I sat down one more time in the middle of the plateau for about 10 yards to unload my legs for the final section of the climb. It's less than a mile, the only way I'm going to put up a good time is to get up and push as big of a gear as I can while still maintaining a reasonable cadence (my avg cadence was 72 rpm). I'd like to keep it above 75 rpm, but to do that I would have had to go to the 30 tooth chain ring and I don't think I can go sub 5 minutes in that chain ring.

Wow! One question? Who got the 4:34? It was the ghost Steve, right? Since he is just like you, you are claiming his time, right? After all, if he could do >it< then you could too "if you wanted to" Since he is virtually you, it was as good as a tie anyway!

While Steve was riding around in circles or sandbagging to figure out how to sub-5 Beatty I believe I got 100 miles worth of training done.

J.K..... Great job dude!
=- Hairy Curt

"...negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full..." - Top Gun

I ended up with a 20 mile training ride, by far the least amount of miles for me for a training ride in over a year. My lungs hurt until I got home. I don't think I'm going to put that kind of effort in again on such a hot day; I'm thinking it's counter productive.

If not for the bragging rights, I never would have done it

And to answer you question: I definitely beat the virtual me, and if he says otherwise, he's full of...

If he shoots off his mouth saying otherwise, there's going to be Throw Down Challenge on Beatty; this time with witnesses other than Mr. Garmin.

For the record: Steve's the winner so far.

4min 46sec
102 degrees
No noticible wind at all.

Here's a fun tool to estimate the wattage put out on that climb: http://www.analyticcycling.com/ForcesPower_Page.html

I carried 3 water bottles on that day. So, it's likely that Steve's weight was about 2kg less than mine. (He's about 1.5kg less before the extra water.) According to that tool, we were within 2 watts of each other.

So, if I can keep loosing weight... there might need to be a rematch...

=- Hairy Curt

Well ladies and gentlemen by reading these times I have a lot of work to do on the bike, and reading steve's longhammer story of a sub five minute bike ride,I have a lot of work to do on my writing skills as well. That's a great story Steve and I'm glad to see you emptied the tank to get that time. Looks like Curt did the same because he took almost a minute off his previous time, if I'm not mistaken.

Greg

Yeah, no doubt, Curt is scary when he gets motivated. Knocking 1 minute off of a 5 minute ITT is crazy. He imporved his time by 17.5%...in one ride! I'd have to post a 3:57 to equal that performance. Not gonna happen; but I will definitely try to get my time under 4:30.

Git er done!!

If ScottW can hold onto an attack like he let fire at the bottom of Glenview on Saturday he could probably sub-4 Beatty by a longshot. ( I'm pretty certain I let out a few more watts on the Glenview sprint than I did when I ITT'd up Beatty. )

Got any answer ScottW?

=- Curt

Sorry a bit off-topic, but speaking of the "Glenview sprint" can someone post the route we took yesterday? For some reason I thought it was Auburn-Folsom, left on Newcastle, right on Indian Hill and back down Auburn-Folsom. However, when I did a routslip on that one it sure didn't show much of a climb up to Indian Hill, so either I was imagining things or I missed plotting something on the map - perhaps Glenview?

Michele,

You almost had the route!

Here it is:

Auburn Folsom Road
L Newcastle Road
R Glenview Road
R Indian Hill
R Auburn Folsom Road

The Glenview climb parallels Indian Hill for the first 2/3rds of Indian Hill before the roads merge.

I’m working on it!

I can get a good sprint off the start of the hills but seem to run out of energy nearing the top. I need to push harder at the top.

I feel that my legs can handle it, it is just pushing myself, I need to work on. I need to attack again and again. After several attacks my mind shuts down and I forget to attack again and I ride to the top of the hill without attacking.

That being said I had another run at Beatty today. It was an interesting day on the hill.

I warmed up riding over to Beatty so I would be fresh to give it all I had. Once I got to the base of the hill, I reset the Garmin and I was off and feeling good. I was sprinting up the first 1/4 mile and went to shift down once the grade increased and the idiot that I am kept pushing the right hand shifter trying to shift the front. Once I realized that the time was lost, I turned around, cooled down and was going to give it one more shot.

I started off attacking again, not as good as the first attempt but not bad. Once I got to the first steep section I shifted to an easier gear and attacked again.

Giving it all I had, I went to shift for the last time and yep, shifted to a harder gear this time instead of an easer one and almost came to a stop on the hill. I was not giving up this time. I corrected as quick as possible and I attacked again.

Finally made it to the top and after all that missed the sub 5 mark by 5 seconds.

Total time was 5min 5.04 secs

I’m hopping to drop that to sub 5 group next time, if Im not an idiot, and learn to shift. As for the sub 4 group, I think I have some more training to do before that comes into play.

I just don’t think it was in the cards today.

ScottW...

When you took off on Glenview, no one had an answer. All we could do was pray that you couldn't hold that pace for the whole climb. Keep a cap on those accelerations and you'll find a pace you can hold that no one can match for a 5 minute climb.

When you get things right you'll leap into the lower half of 4 minutes on Beatty without a doubt. Once you are able to keep your head together I'm certain you will be the first to sub-4 Beatty.

"Use the force, Luke"

=- Hairy Curt.