Podagrower

https://www.bikeforums.net/clydesdale...ate-beanz.html

Rather than bring an old thread back, I'll (hopefully) link to it. It's one of the first posts I read on bikeforums when I joined. I've been telling myself I was going to ride the Horrible Hundred for a couple of years, but it's serious this time. The beginner group I joined is part of the Florida Freewheelers, and the HH is one of the Freewheelers signature events. We are training for a century ride in September, several of us have signed up for a century in October, and then a few of us are planning to hit the HH in November.

The "hills" I used to ride are now false flats, the hills I ride now are starting to have names. Right now, I want a lower granny gear, so I need to get stronger, or lighter, or a different cassette, or all three...I had been stuck on a weight loss plateau for a long time, but finally started dropping weight again. I'm getting stronger every week, but the HH is a lot of climbing for us Florida boys.

Ronno6

Been there, done that.
Of course, Sugarloaf is the most dreaded of then all, but many others present as much challenge.
There is one when you are coming back into Clermont that comes as a surprise. You have
come off a long, shallow grade and make a right turn, the road seems to go up at an impossible
grade. Short, but steep!
The Florida Freewheelers really put on a great event.
Have fun!

nickw234

I rode the HH last year for the first time. Signed up for the 35 mile route and completed 45 miles. This year I am shooting for the 70 mile route if they have it again. It was no joke, for someone who rides on flat roads, but it was an awesome event. Probably my favorite event I have done so far.

TrojanHorse

I found some strava records of the horrible hundred and it says the overall elevation is around 4k feet, but the individual segments look really wonky - one, the Florida's Turnpike Climb shows up as having 300 feet of climbing in about .3 miles, which would be a for-real popper if it were for real. The guy I was looking at had an elevation profile more along the lines of 30 feet.

I seriously doubt there are any 300 foot overpasses in Orlando!

Regardless, sounds like a fun time, report back on your progress!

scrming

I ran into my first "named" hills this spring during a gravel road race... there were 3 hills back to back and they were collectively named "The 3 Sisters"... at the bottom of the 3rd one was a sign:

"The 3rd Sister is a B*TCH"

Despite wanting to puke at that point, I still laughed... and I also decided hills with NAMES is not a good thing!

Podagrower

Hills, heat, and humidity, that was the theme of yesterday's ride. We rode the Wall and Buckhill road. 1,500 feet of climbing in 30 miles. It's not a lot to a lot of people, but to us flatlanders, it's a lot. I stopped 1/2 way up the wall, rested for a minute and carried on, but no cross training. Today I went out for a flat 30 mile ride to find out how bad my legs were. They were not bad, the cardio needs work, the bike needs an 11-32 cassette, and training can start.

Podagrower

Saturday was a return to a hilly ride with some of our beginner group. There are 2 rides I have been leading, both have about 900 feet of climbing and are 38 miles longs. The one running north is easy, the 900 feet is spread out over the entire 38 miles. The southern one is like a 35 mile flat ride with the 900 feet of climbing in 3 miles. We went south for the second time Saturday, and it was a lot better than the first time. We got a lot of cloud cover, and a little light rain to cool us off. Ride time was nearly identical as the first time, but knowing what the hills were like made so much difference. Waiting on a new cassette, derailleur, and chain that will hopefully be here before Friday's start to top secret hill training.

Podagrower

I had planned to start the HH training this Friday morning, but went out there yesterday after work. I rode up The Wall and Sugarloaf. Again, it's my cardio that needs work. 1 stop on The Wall, 3 stops on Sugarloaf (and I got passed by a jogger, ugh). But it needed to start last night since the new cassette, chain, and derailleur are here and I wanted a real comparison between 28 and 36 tooth cogs.

Podagrower

Rode The Wall (PR and didn't have to stop), 12 miles of rolling hills to the Yalaha Bakery, 12 miles of rolling hills to Sugarloaf (PR, stopped 3X), and another 5 miles of rollers back to where we started. 30 miles, 14 MPH average, 1,400 feet of climbing. Does an 11-36 cassette make a difference, yes it does.

TrojanHorse

Congrats!

Say, do you have a standard or compact crank? I reckon with a compact and a 36 in back, you could just about ride up a wall. Just because you have it doesn't mean you have to use it, but it sure is a nice warm fuzzy knowing it's there.

Podagrower

Compact double crank. Planning to mix in some cogs out of an 11-28 so I can have a nice tight group of gears around 15 tooth and the 36 (its a sram cassette, the 3 largest gears are 1 spider, but the others are independent.)

Today was a nice full club ride, about 170 members of differing abilities. I opted for a 31 mile ride of C pace. It was a little slow, but an enjoyable ride, until I wrecked at mile 28ish. I half wheeled the rider in front and went down hard. Helmet deformed, wondering how did I get road rash there, wondering if I cracked some ribs. Everybody was trying to help, but I had to get on the bike and finish, its my first big accident since I started riding, and its a mental thing...if I don't get up and finish now, when will I get back on the bike. I started a little slow, because I really just wanted to be with a small group and let everyone else go, but they all wanted to make sure I was all right, so I pulled away, taking the people with me I wanted and ignoring the "gap" being called out. I'm pretty sure tomorrow is going to suck...

TrojanHorse

Aw man, sorry to hear that. Glad your helmet did it's thing, time for a new one.

I'd be leery about mixing cogs in a cassette. I was going to do that too until I noticed that they're spaced to promote nice shifting and all that. Still, it might be passable. Let me know how it goes. As far as I'm concerned they could skip the 12 cog on any cassette that has an 11 and I'd never miss it. The 16 is dead handy though.

Podagrower

Last night was the first time I've ridden since "the incident". I did wind up going to the Dr on Monday to find out if I had anything broken, and the Xrays show nothing (I know its kind of a waste since broken and bruised rib treatment is the same, but I needed to know how concerned I should be about causing further injury by continuing to ride). I needed to ride socially last night to figure out what works, what doesn't, and where my mind is. My left shoulder and ribs are painful to move, any bump in the pavement more than 1" feels like a jab in the chest, I can't reach my water bottle with my left hand, I can't lift a water bottle high enough to drink from with my left hand, I can't rest my weight on my left arm if I drink from my right, and I'm a little jittery in the paceline. I had no issue holding a steady 16MPH by myself, but that's about 2MPH slower than I am capable of sustaining solo (can't breath enough to ride fast). We have a 50 mile ride on Sunday, hopefully I'll be in better shape.

WonderMonkey

Love the progression of your riding. What once was a hill now is not and you are on to other things which are considered hills. Can't wait to hear how all this goes for you.

WonderMonkey

Glad you are ok and the people showed their concern. What happened to the person on the other bike that you made contact with?

Podagrower

As is usual, the guy in front was fine. I know he felt (feels) bad that it happened, but it wasn't his fault. I was third in line of about 20 riders, and there was an oncoming car (the guy in the car used to be a crit rider, what are the odds), but everybody cleared me somehow.

Podagrower

I skipped a week in the hills and went back out Tuesday night to my secret spot. It makes an 11 mile loop, 800' of climbing, out of The Wall and Sugarloaf Mountain Rd. No stopping on The Wall with the new lower gearing, 2 stops on Sugarloaf (really thought I was going to make it with 1 stop), both of them were PR on Strava for me. Then I followed it up with 750' of climbing in 14 miles on Wednesday with the group hill training.

Podagrower

Another night at Sugarloaf, another PR. The legs were still tired after Saturday (25 miles, 1,000 feet climbing) and Sunday (54 miles, dead flat) rides. Made it up the loaf with 1 stop this time. Probably getting very close to being able to make it up without stopping-with fresh legs, early in the day-but I have to make it up at the end of the day, tired and hot, so it will probably be another couple of weeks.

Podagrower

Almost time to kick off hill training full gas (as the Brits say). Two more team training sessions and our team season will officially end. Our first century is Sep 13, a lot of the team is riding a second century October 4th, and several people are planning to ride a third century in October, and then the HH in November. There are a lot of great rides and routes available to add elevation to the distances we are already riding to finish the training. I have got to get back into the weight loss/riding every day routine, hauling 15 or 20 pounds less of me up the hills would make life a whole lot easier.

Podagrower

The check is in the mail. Registration is complete. As a small test during our century on Sunday, I took the opportunity to try standing and cranking out the last overpass (mile 85) and last hill (mile 95). I was happy with the results, and happy to still have options that late in the day.

billyymc

I probably missed the details somewhere, but what makes this "horrible"?

What's the total climbing over the 100 miles? I think of FL as pretty flat...my brother who lives down there asked if I would be interested in doing a cross florida ride next year and I think the total climbing on that is something like 2,500 feet over 167 miles (I'm probably a little off on the details).

Podagrower

Last year's HH had a little over 4,000 feet of climbing over the 100 mile route. This year's route isn't final (jersey design is done and has the route on it), but it'll be pretty close to the same. It's nothing for the folks who ride mountains all the time, but for those of us in flat Florida, it's a lot. The highest point on the ride is only 300 feet high, and there is a 20 mile stretch that is pretty flat, so there is a lot of up and down. (If you are planning to use HWY 44 in your trip, make sure you wave when you pass my house).

bmthom.gis

Riding a single speed has been helping me with hills. I've even set a KOM on strava on a pretty decent hill using my single speed. Don't get me wrong, I still love gears, esp. for hills - but for just getting used to them I am finding SS is a great way to build up some muscle.

billyymc

Thanks for the info! Sounds like a fun ride - you're doing it soon? I didn't realize you could get that kind of vertical in FL - especially after my brother showed me the route for the Cross Florida ride.

I did my first century last Friday. 104 miles, solo, 6400 feet of climbing. I was happy to have a 20 mile very flat stretch from 75 to 95.

Podagrower

We rode flat rides of long miles for a few weeks, including a very flat century ride. Last weekend was a "gentle" reintroduction into the hills. 44 miles, 1,200 feet of climbing, of course we added some extra hills and wound up with 1,700 feet. It was good to get out and practice in the hills.
Today was another hill training ride, 46 miles, 1,400 feet of climbing. Bonus hills turned it into 2,100 feet of climbing and for the first time I made it up the front face of Sugarloaf without stopping. After 40+ miles, after 1,200 feet of climbing, with the temperature nice and warm, I finally rode that hill. It was kinda surreal to make it up with what seemed like not a lot of effort, doing the same things as before.
I think our training strategy is going to work, making rides in the 50 mile range, with climbing increasing gradually. We're currently riding about 1/2 of the HH with these rides, and making a 13MPH average. It won't be a fast century, but it's a pace that can be maintained all day. 6 weeks of training will add a little to the speed, but speed is not priority 1.