Training for Tam, Diablo, Hamilton

[rpiopio]

Hello,

My goal is to ride up each one of these Bay Area landmarks sometime this summer (On different days). Who wants to play coach and tell me what to do to build up to them? I've never stepped foot on Tam or Diablo, and have driven up to Hamilton so I have no idea what the other two are like, where to start, any of it.

I'm riding more regularly but am definitely a weekend warrior right now. I typically ride a loop from San Mateo, up Crystal Springs Road to the Sawyer Camp trail around Sawyer Camp up to the Dam and back down. I also do the La Canada Sunday loop from 92 to Woodside & Back.

Who can suggest local (Peninsula) routes & loops I can do to build up to those peaks?
What does it take besides "just keep riding" recommendations that I know people will want to post.

Ask me more questions, give me some feedback, I'll appreciate it all. Thanks.

[msincredible]

Hey there, to add some more climbing onto your loop, try Kings Mountain or Old La Honda once you get down to Woodside.

[spingineer]

Or you could volunteer to lead a BF ride, and we can all experience it with you :)

[jinws]

I don't think you need any trainning for Diablo or Tam. I suck and I can make it up, now if you want to make it up quickly, then you need trainning. :D

[BlastRadius]

I've not been on Tam or Diablo either. As mentioned already, give Kings Mtn Rd and Old La Honda a try.
Even going up Skyline from Crystal Springs to Black Mtn Rd is a good 1 mile climb. Just go up come down and go up again.

[Gee3]

The big 3 is one of my goals this year too! When you get ready to do the rides let me know and I'll try to go with you! That way you'll at least have one person you can beat going up the hill! <cough, cough... me...>

Where in San Mateo are you? I'm in Daly City. Henry is close-by too!

Gary

[rumbutter]

I never did specific training to do Diablo and Hamilton the first time I rode them.

The Low key hill climb series may well include two of these climbs this year (Diablo and Hamilton). If they do you could ride it with lots of other people.

[Links to 2007 Versions]

http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2007/week4/
http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2007/week9/

The hardest bit of Diablo is the last few hundred feet. The surface is generally good and there are lots of people about on weekends to drive you on. The difficulty of the climb comes in how fast you want to ride it. Great descent !!!! it can get very hot in summer and cold in winter.

Mount Hamilton I find to be a more difficult climb. Its more remote and the last 6 miles or so can be windy and cold . The road surface can also be very poor. There is a chance to get refreshments near the top. Riding up Hamilton from the West side should be easily dooable if you take your time (IMHO the descent sucks!) . The East side is a different beast alltogether. It requires a lot of lonely miles to get there and it can be brutally hot in summer.There is an organised ride to do this.

http://www.modestonorthrotary.org/rideinfo.htm

Mount TAM I have never ridden.

[uspspro]

Do something like this... it's a typical weekend for me... (this route starts from my house). I live in San Mateo.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/typical-weekend-ride

I alternate between that and going up OLH and down Kings or 84 as "fall back" rides, when there are no BF rides going on.

Just join a BF ride, and you'll get some climbing in.

I think Alan is going to setup his coast ride again, so people can wheel suck off of Ruth and I on our Tandem through the brutal headwinds. There is some good climbing on that ride.

You can also go up OLH and go down W 84 or W Alpine to the Coast or Pescadero and come back up Tunitas :)

[mtnwalker]

+1 on giving us a heads up when you are ready to do the rides. Some of us are more than willing to ride up with you, time permitting.:D

[BlastRadius]

I never did specific training to do Diablo and Hamilton the first time I rode them.

The Low key hill climb series may well include two of these climbs this year (Diablo and Hamilton). If they do you could ride it with lots of other people.

[Links to 2007 Versions]

http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2007/week4/
http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2007/week9/

The hardest bit of Diablo is the last few hundred feet. The surface is generally good and there are lots of people about on weekends to drive you on. The difficulty of the climb comes in how fast you want to ride it. Great descent !!!! it can get very hot in summer and cold in winter.

Mount Hamilton I find to be a more difficult climb. Its more remote and the last 6 miles or so can be windy and cold . The road surface can also be very poor. There is a chance to get refreshments near the top. Riding up Hamilton from the West side should be easily dooable if you take your time (IMHO the descent sucks!) . The East side is a different beast alltogether. It requires a lot of lonely miles to get there and it can be brutally hot in summer.There is an organised ride to do this.

http://www.modestonorthrotary.org/rideinfo.htm

Mount TAM I have never ridden.

Thanks rumbutter. It's great to see new people joining the NorCal sub-forum. rpiopio is fairly new too. Hope to see you both on a group ride sometime.

[uspspro]

Try starting from your house and doing this (once you get to Woodside).
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Peninsula-Ride-March-2008

[johnny99]

Hey there, to add some more climbing onto your loop, try Kings Mountain or Old La Honda once you get down to Woodside.

Mt. Tam and Mt. Diablo are about the same steepness as Kings or Old La Honda (except for the driveway at the top of Mt. Diablo). If you climb Kings Mountain without feeling really tired at the top, then you should be fine on Tam or Diablo. Tam is not much taller than Kings. Diablo is a little more. The driveway at the top of Diablo is only 100 yards or so; just stand up and grit your teeth and it is over pretty quickly.

Hamilton is less steep than any of the above, but it feels like it goes on forever (20 miles @ 5% grade). You really need to pace yourself, since this is a long (in time) climb. Bring lots of water since there is no shade.

Because none of these climbs is real steep, anyone can do them with a little training.

[ericm979]

I've ridden them all- Mt Tam only a few times, the others many many times.

The best way to get good at riding climbs is to ride climbs. You need to learn how to pace yourself and you can only do that with experience. If you blow up that's ok, you need to learn what that feels like.

I like to do two different kinds of hill training- long climbs at my long climb pace, and shorter periods at a faster pace. Different kinds of rides on different days. I'm being deliberately vague because my "long climb" is 2x Mt Ham or 3x Mt Diablo; yours may start out being a half hour (i.e. OLH, Kings) or so. The goal is to get used to riding up hill at an endurance pace for a long time. Ideally you'd lengthen this until it's close to the time you'll need to ride up hill on your goal event.

The shorter efforts (I do 20-30 min efforts at threshold and 5 min at above theshold) train strength and VO2.

It's easier to get those in during the week since they take less time. They'll make you climb faster but if you hate doing them you don't have to, just do more endurance paced climbing. That's the important one for getting up long climbs. I finished a couple Death Rides just on that kind of riding.

When you're doing the long climbs practice relaxing as much as possible. Someone (Greg Lemond?) said that you should relax your face, you should be able to feel your jaw move when you hit bumps. I tend to grip the bars too tight, so making sure that I can flap my elbows ensures that I'm relaxing my upper body. You don't want to be using any muscles that aren't getting you up the road.

Another thing to practice is getting out of the saddle without using too much energy. I'm not sure how to describe it but I have two distinct modes of out of the saddle climbing- one where I am really going for it and my whole body is involved, for sprinting or closing gaps in a race or getting up a short very steep section, and one that's more relaxed. There my weight is supported more on my arms and I am not using them to pull up much if at all. It's useful to be able to stand every once in a while to releive pressure or to get over a short slightly steeper part without downshifting and losing speed.

[rpiopio]

Wow! Thanks for the input everyone. I guess you'll find me on OLH Road on Sun morning. Baby steps, baby steps.

That's a great site uspspro, thanks for the routes. Not sure I'm ready to go up and over to the coast and back up yet but I'll get there.

I'll definitely let everyone know when I'm ready to tackle Tam. I think that will be my first goal simply due to location. Expect something middle of June probably. You'll all be the first to know. I'd be happy to organize a ride. I could probably use the support.

Gee3 I'm near Serra High School right off 92 in between El Camino and Alameda de las Pulgas.

[ericm979]

The ACTC road profile viewer has a lot of bay area climb profiles:
http://actc.org/profiles/

[uspspro]

I'm near Serra High School right off 92 in between El Camino and Alameda de las Pulgas.

Sheesh. We are practically neighbors.

I live at 24th ave and Hacienda (between El Camino and Alameda)

[msincredible]

This site has a nice description of Peninsula climbs:
http://www.westernwheelers.org/main/resources/BA_Climbs.html

[blewgo]

And I'm near 26th and Alameda. Just started riding again somewhat regularly about a month ago and am doing a lot of the same routes. Need to ride more hills, I'm supposed to be training for the Death Ride, but at the rate that I'm going, I may wimp out!

[DiabloScott]

. Need to ride more hills, I'm supposed to be training for the Death Ride, but at the rate that I'm going, I may wimp out!

Lots of folks hoping you do, and will sell them your ticket:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/wan/664977102.html

[rpiopio]

Between Blewgo, uspspro, and I, we have a nice little San Mateo BF community.

The ACTC road profile viewer has a lot of bay area climb profiles:
http://actc.org/profiles/

Cool tool eric979. When I pull up Tam or Hamilton though and compare it to OLH, my knees start to shake. I've got some work to do. Your tips are great too. Thanks for sharing.

[msincredible]

Hey, genejockey is in San Mateo too and I am in Foster City. :)

[genejockey]

True!

My suggestion would be, once you can do OLH or Kings comfortably - that is, OLH in less than 30' without puking - just start going down the west side, either on West OLH or 84, then coming back up on 84 or West OLH (respectively). When you can do that comfortably, it's time to go to the Coast on 84, then try your hand at Tunitas Creek!

If you can do Kings or OLH AND Tunitas in one day, you're probably ready.

[rpiopio]

Sweet genejockey now that's the kind bar I needed set for me. Up OLH in less than 30 without puking. :D
I'll take it easy the first time and shorten my times from there. Too bad it looks like it's gonna be a zoo this weekend down there.