Long Distance Cycling - Ramrod 2009

Hi,

Not sure how familiar this forum may be with the RAMROD (ride around Mt. Rainier in one day), but I figure there's a good chance a few folks have rode it.

I'm giving myself a full year to train, but still have worries.

Good:
* I've done a handful of centuries
* I live in the region, and am familiar with hill climbing.
* My daily commute has 600+ ft of climbing.
* I'm a fairly strong rider, and have finished a century in just over 5 hours.
* I'm volunteering for the event this year (next week) and hope to learn some good info while out there.

Bad:
* I'm heavy. I've lost weight since I started riding seriously a few years back, but I'm still over 200lbs. I've lost inches off my waste, but my quads are huge - I'd like to think the weight gain is all muscle ;)
* My road bike is comfy, but is probably not ideal for all out climbing.
* I haven't met a hill I couldn't ride, but it's rarely always graceful or fast.

I pretty much ride 50-100 miles a week all year long, so I've always got some legs built up, but I am nervous that's not going to do me much good when riding 150 miles up hill.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks

-Sean

Look through the back issues of the Redmond Cycling Club (the ride organizers) newsletter -- they've got lots of good articles about RAMROD:
http://www.redmondcyclingclub.org/newsletters.html

I have progressed from #200-something to #102 on the waiting list for RAMROD 2008 -- I'm ready to ride next week and hoping that 102 more people decide they aren't ready... ;-)

P.S. For those of you who don't know about RAMROD, it's 154 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing:
http://www.redmondcyclingclub.org/RAMROD/RAMROD.html
http://www.redmondcyclingclub.org/images/ramrod_courseprofile.jpg

Skyler,

Thanks for the info. By volunteering this year, I'm supposed to get a "Bypass" which gets me on the list for next year. I hadn't looked at the elevation profile before. It appears the last 40+ miles are downhill. :)

Ride 100 miles/wk. all winter or 50 miles outside and cross train or use rollers or trainer or equivalent to make up the difference. Ramp up to 150-200 miles/week over the spring and summer. Either do the RR training series or other group rides which focus on climbing. They may start too far north for you until summer brings them south to the Park. During the summer, ride all the climbs individually, plus Sunrise. It's not that hard. There are no steep climbs. You just have to ride within yourself and learn where that is. And remember that you will have already ridden 60 miles and climbed 3000' before the real climbing starts.

Ramrod is on my 2009 "wish list," too.

A friend suggested that if you can't get in (or don't feel up to doing it all in day) that you ride the route in two days; carry just enough stuff so you can overnight in a motel/lodge at the park entrance. Makes it a 60 mile first day; you do all the climbing on the second day.

Another good warm-up ride (which is still open for registration) is the High Pass Challenge, on Sept. 7. It's at www.cascade.org.

Just do the climbing parts in advance to prepare. I did Paradise-Sunrise-Paradise a couple weeks ago (100ish miles, 11k climbing) and while it did beat me up pretty badly, I bet that would be a really good training ride.

Hi,

Not sure how familiar this forum may be with the RAMROD (ride around Mt. Rainier in one day), but I figure there's a good chance a few folks have rode it.

I'm giving myself a full year to train, but still have worries.

Good:
* I've done a handful of centuries
* I live in the region, and am familiar with hill climbing.
* My daily commute has 600+ ft of climbing.
* I'm a fairly strong rider, and have finished a century in just over 5 hours.
* I'm volunteering for the event this year (next week) and hope to learn some good info while out there.

Bad:
* I'm heavy. I've lost weight since I started riding seriously a few years back, but I'm still over 200lbs. I've lost inches off my waste, but my quads are huge - I'd like to think the weight gain is all muscle ;)
* My road bike is comfy, but is probably not ideal for all out climbing.
* I haven't met a hill I couldn't ride, but it's rarely always graceful or fast.

I pretty much ride 50-100 miles a week all year long, so I've always got some legs built up, but I am nervous that's not going to do me much good when riding 150 miles up hill.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks

-Sean

I did most of ramrod last year (knee issue forced me to cut it short).

* There are RAMROD training rides that start in the spring, and there are lots of hilly training rides you can go on. You will want to ride a lot of hills.

* Mountain climbs are unlike any climbs you have done. My trip up sunrise last ramrod took 95 minutes of climbing to climb about 3000'. The way you approach that climb is very different than the way you approach a climb thats 300-600'. Find time to ride a couple of the big climbs. Go up 410 and climb to the top of Chinook pass, or climb up Sunrise, or climb up crystal mountain. Or, put those all together, and you'll get a pretty good view of what ramrod is like overall. Extra points if you park at Greenwater, and extra extra points if you park at Enunclaw and ride all the way up. Sunrise is the nicest and (I think) the hardest of the 3 - chinook is okay but the pavement on crystal mountain blvd sucks.

* Pay special attention to hydration, nutrition, and electrolyte replacement. You will be pushing yourself harder than in most centuries, pacelines don't help on the climbs, and you can't reduce your energy expenditure by riding more slowly.

Note that the last 40 miles is downhill but there's always a headwind.

To summarize some of the advice given here:

1) keep my mileage up all year
2) practice some of the climbs in advance

"Don't buy upgrades; ride up grades."
- Eddy Merckx

I know from experience, that "knowing" you can climb a particular hill is a huge mental advantage, so I get that aspect of pre-riding the different climbs.

On the other long distance rides I've done, with a few exceptions I prefer riding with a group. Part of it is the pacelines, but the peer pressure can be a helpful motivator. Unfortunately people climb at different paces. I've seen tight pacelines going 25mph on the flats, hit a steep climb and the whole line fragments and the people are all different speeds - some spinning, some mashing/standing etc.

It seems that a group is a lot less helpful on a climbing ride like RAMROD. Is this basically correct?

I've never ridden RAMROD (although I'd love too!) but I have done some ultra lenght events, including the Race Across Oregon (534 miles, 40K climbing) and the old Torture 10,000 (100 miles, 10K climbing).

Others have mentioned it, but ride within your self. You do not want to hit the "red zone" ever in the ride. Ride at your 80% HR max, always keeping in mind it is a long ride. Start up hills slow and steady, and just keep that pace it you will be amazed at how far you can go.

Keep fueled and hydrated. We all talk about hydration, but at distances of over 100 miles, fuel is important as well. Know before hand what you can eat, and what your body will not accept. What works for me (oddly corn-dogs have been my saviour more than once; my wife survives on Perpetum (Hammer) but I can't stand it past the 12 hour mark) might not work for you. Eat & drink early and often in small amounts.

Remember it's about FUN and enjoy the scenery, enjoy the day, enjoy the ride and don't worry about what skinny racer Johnny is doing up ahead of you. ;)

Ken

PS, I am currenntly 180, and did RAO as a 2-person team at 188-ish. Dropping weight certainly helps, but it is not a cure all and a lot of Clysdales climb just fine - as long as they do it at there own speed.

I actually used perpetuem on the STP this year. One big advantage to bottled "fuel" is it kept me from getting hungry and allowed me to skip a few food stops. As a clydesdale I need a few more calories, but I hate having a full belly of food while riding, so high calorie low volume stuff helpful.