cfforum

Hairy Curt-

I hope that you are right!

I will keep you posted on the progress, thanks for the nice words.

Scott

Scott,

I agree with Curtis - no one had and answer to you ballistic attack at the bottom of Glenview. There were a few nervous twitches among the riders from the A Group that expected to among the leaders on that climb. According to David, you almost rode right into the back of the minivan because they weren't prepared to accelerate at the same speed that you blasted off at. He also mentioned that you were the only rider in the frame for a while becuase you climbed up and around the corner far enough ahead of the rest of us that we weren't even in the picture.

I have become a much better climber over the last 12 months because I consistently find myself in dogfights up insanely long, steep climbs with the likes of Curtis, Scott M, Derek, Greg, Mark D, and Chris. On any given day any one of those guys could be the guy to beat.

You need to start riding with this group of guys and seeing how the surges and attacks form at different elevations of a climb. It's amazing to think back and recall a battle we on Prospectors Grade when Chris decided to put the hammer down right from the first turn of the pedal. Half way up the mountain we were all still within a few feet of each other; Curtis even yelled out something to the effect that he couldn't believe how hard it had become to beat anyone of us up that hill. Not that long ago he dominated whenever he was in the mood.

He hasn't slowed down, it's just that the rest of the group has improved.

There were attacks by everyone at different points in the climb and the deck was reshuffled on a regular basis. We had 5 riders; based on the initial placing after the first attack settled down into a regrouping:

The 1st position rider finished 5th
The 2nd postion rider finished 1st
The 3rd position rider finished 2nd
The 4th position rider finished 4th
The 5th position rider finished 3rd

The riders that finished 3rd-5th ended up in a flat out sprint over the last 200 yards.

On the longer, steeper climbs the winner almost always has to show patience and not chase the early leader(s) too aggressively, Curtis is a master at this. He has a good sense of when to attack and when to simply limit his losses until a better opportunity arises. Wanna be in it at the top of the climb? Ride Curtis' wheel all the way up the moutain (if you can) and hope you have enough for the final assault.

So what I'm saying is that I think you would learn a lot by engaging in these battles, learning how to "play a wheel" to your advantage and use the competitions strengths to lift you up a difficult section of a climb and then attack them where they weaken.

It's a bunch of fun; it hurts, no doubt, but there's a very serious chess game going on among the top climbers and you are surely a rider who can contend.

It's time to get a glove and get in the game. You should be saying: "Put me in coach!"

Im ready to play!

I have not been riding for a long time and I am learning somthing new every day. I appreciate all the helpful advise. I know the only way to get better is to push myself and ride with people that are better then me, and I plan to do exactly that. This is a great group to learn from, and I'm soaking it all in.

Thanks
Scott

Decided to try something new today and did the Alexandra Hill Climb. Following are my stats for Beatty - I'm sure I lost a couple seconds fiddling with the Blackburn (started it just before turning onto Beatty) and by not knowing what gears to be in and when, having never done it before, but when you're as slow-as-molasses as I am, those extra seconds really don't count now do they? Laugh if you must, hopefully I give all you a HUGE moral boost:

.80 miles in 7.42 minutes - average speed 6.2mph


My overall stats for the Alexandra Hill Climb:

26.32 miles in 2 hours flat - average speed 13 mph - max speed 32 mph


I have to say that my legs felt much more tired when I got up this morning than I expected. I hate to think how they're going to feel tomorrow morning!

Nice work Michele! The Alexandra Hill Cimb loop is a very difficult one; about 100 feet of climbing per mile total - but really, you climb 2,300 ft in the first 17 miles which is: 135 ft/mile...ouch!

You gutted it out and now you'll be stronger for it - ride that beast once a week and in five or six weeks you'll be talking about how those climbs used to be steeper; they'll still require effort, but you'll have developed probably two or three different approaches to clmbing them depending on how you feel that day.

By the fall you'll be attacking the steepest sections of the hill...because you can and you're in the mood.

Keep up the good work!!

Thanks Steve. Surprisingly enough, I was not sore after this ride - just really, really tired! I drank 3 litres of water in addition to what I had on the bike and another 3 litres yesterday. I'm still dehydrated according to the "keep it clear" test.

I plan to tackle it again next weekend. I'm hoping it prepares me for the Tahoe Sierra 60-miler.

Tomorrow me and natey are heading out to beaty, and Ill give it everything. But damn steve, reading your massive post and hearing that that much willpower was put into one climb, sort of scares me. Since ive decided tomorrow will be the day, about a half an hour ago, my heart rate has gone high and I'm shaking, just from the thought of the suffering after school tomorrow.


So if your average speed up the hill was 10.3mph, then unless im a total idiot, I just have to manage 10.4 mph to beat you.

Make sure you eat your Wheaties; no rocks for you. And yep, all you need to do is average the same as me until the last steep climb, then hit the gas and average 10.4 miles per hour to finish and you should just edge me out. You can do it!

I rode Beatty for the first time in over six weeks, and I was pleased to see a little progress from my last time of 5:15. I rode it in 5 min. and 4 seconds. It wasn't a very pretty ride. I felt like I was all over the bike and had way too much upper body movement causing me to use up a lot of enregy in the wrong place, but I was able to take time off my previous best so I should stop whining. I thought I might go under five minutes but I'll have to save it for next time.

Derek, how did you do today?

Greg.

Time: 4:11
Average Speed:11.3mph
Max: 21.8

WOW! Impressive. Great job

Derek - go do it now - after your accident - bet all that anger and energy is worth 5 - 10 seconds.

are ya'll timing from STOP sign to STOP sign? I know that I wanted to stop the clock when I reached the top and was crying when the top STOP sign was further away. boo hoo...

I start the timer with my foot on the ground and my tire on the stripe at the very begining of Beatty. I stop it as I cross the first stop sign at the top. My computer reads 7 tenths of mile. I don't post my avg. speed because I don't know how accurate it is, but I do know my stop watch works fine.

Greg F.

It was a few years ago, in mid to late spring. The reminants of the recently dissolved Folsom Peloton had gathered under a new banner: Cycle Folsom. There were maybe eight riders back then, all committed, and all consisstent. We were in pretty good shape for being that early in the year.

A new kid was showing up to join us on the Folsom Lake Loop; and what sight he was: long white tube socks, gym shorts, and a button down long sleeve dress shirt all sitting cockeyed atop a hand-me-down womens road bike donated to him by his aunt.

He struggled to hand on to the back of hte group that day, never really staying with the leaders, but never really getting dropped either. He sorta floated around just near the back of the group. Everyone was commenting on how much potential he had; it was universally accepted that if he chose to work at it, Derek could make his way to the front of our peloton in a couple of years.

Well, we were wrong about Derek, it only took him the balance of that first year to ride right though the group and assume the title of the best climber. I was among the first to go down in a head-to-head battle on the climb up Mosquito Rd from the single lane suspension bridge. I put the hammer down on the immediate 20% grade and gave it the gas, but Derek was ready put three bike lengths on me getting to the flat spot as you make the hairpin turn. After that I was able to keep up with him until the road tilted up sharply again, at which time he completely "horizoned" me. He was, in fact, resting with his heart rate already recovered when I finally appeared at the crest of the climb.

Derek has continued to accel and improve, his 4:11 assualt on Beatty is "other-worldly". A few of us are talking about pitching in and getting that manchild a power meter so we can find out what his real potential is against elite riders.

Perhaps one day, just a few years down the road, we'll be out at the Tour of California watching Derek mix it up with the big boys. We'll be tell stories to other cycling enthusiats about how we knew Derek when his choice for nutrtion on the road was a sandwich baggy filled with Frosted Flakes and he used to accuse us of "Eating rocks for breakfast". Too bad we don't have any pictures of the tube socks, gym shorts and button down dress shirt to send into Velo News when "D" hits the big time.

Hey Derek, great job - you are the King of the Mountain!