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Addiction XXXVII

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Addiction XXXVII

Old 07-27-14, 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Herbie53
Firehouse Century today... 123.4 miles and 7,530 ft.

We missed a few turns.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
Well, today was a nice day- I slept in, wrote up my ride report, got my slides done for my lecture, ate a lot, and then went for a nice easy 28 mile ride.

So I'm now thinking:
1. Maybe I can absorb more than 200 cal/hr, I'm going to try it and see
2. I typically think I burn about 350 cal/hr when cycling, but need to remember with really tough work like this, it's probably way more, 500-550 cal/hr
3. I have been afraid to eat a big lunch, people have told me I'll be unable to digest it, all the blood will be going to my muscles. I'm sure that's true to some extent but I think I can eat way more while resting than people have led me to believe
Excellent way to handle the day after a ride such as that, Heathpack.

I don't get the little weinerheads on two wheels, and it's a shame you had to deal with them.

Do you carry any gels, or Shot Block type supplements? I believe in a combination of those, and in your case, the schedule of Fig Newtons you set.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:14 PM
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Originally Posted by RUOkie
please don't use the term "carb loading" it doesn't work and in many ways is counterproductive to good energy balance.
Does topping up your glycogen stores say it better? I can live with that.
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Originally Posted by LAJ
No matter where I go, here I am...
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Old 07-27-14, 07:15 PM
  #5129  
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Originally Posted by RUOkie
please don't use the term "carb loading" it doesn't work and in many ways is counterproductive to good energy balance.
I agree, RUOkie. I have yet to carb load, and 10 or more hour rides were a normal occurrence for me.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:18 PM
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Originally Posted by rpenmanparker
Does topping up your glycogen stores say it better? I can live with that.
for many people that doesn't work either. It takes lots of things to really increase your glycogen stores, and training is the most important. It really involves a commitment to nutrition for weeks prior to a big event, and avoiding things that deplete your stores (like alcohol) Even dehydration plays a role in energy balance (when you are properly hydrated for days before, it is easier for your liver to increase its stores).
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Old 07-27-14, 07:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Herbie53
Had a car right hook me today on a road I ride all the time. Uncommon, but not unusual other than he looked right at me just before getting to the turn as we were going nearly the same speed, sped up, hit the brakes hard and nearly put me in the weeds. I gave him a well deserved salute and carried on.

It got a bit weird when I got to my next turn and heard a car going slowly behind me. He had turned around and was following me. I turned into a park I ride through and he let me have all the f-bombs he could muster, as well as honking and driving right up my butt. I offered to stop and discuss things with him at the parking lot the park loop passes through, he decided to speed off... to the degree his car could speed off...

The final bit of weird is he was driving a Prius with a coexist sticker on it.

I bought one of these this afternoon.
well done.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:20 PM
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Originally Posted by rpenmanparker
Does topping up your glycogen stores say it better? I can live with that.
most of what we "knew" about sports nutrition 10 yrs ago was probably wrong. Lots of good information came out with the research on exercise in diabetics is applicable to the ultraendurance athlete. (and any 10+ hour session qualifies as ultraendurance)
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Old 07-27-14, 07:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Herbie53
Firehouse Century today... 123.4 miles and 7,530 ft.

We missed a few turns.
Nice Herbie!
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Old 07-27-14, 07:25 PM
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Originally Posted by RUOkie
most of what we "knew" about sports nutrition 10 yrs ago was probably wrong. Lots of good information came out with the research on exercise in diabetics is applicable to the ultraendurance athlete. (and any 10+ hour session qualifies as ultraendurance)
So do you think I could actually eat more while riding? Or is the 200 cal/hr thing sacrosanct?
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Old 07-27-14, 07:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
115 miles in, 15 miles to go all uphill.

Was seriously spent coming from Santa Barbara to Ventura, I have just been fed a slice of pizza &
a coke. Drank another bottle. Feel halfway decent, although I wish we didn't have more up. We're at something over 9000 ft of climbing already for today.

And yes @RollCNY, I am wearing my jacket
Heathpack, dont take this to heart, but right now I absolutely hate you. A couple years ago I spent 10 days right where you are now (or were) It was and still is one of the finest weeks+ of riding I have ever done. Get up ride for half a day or so, eat lunch, shower, nap, ride some more, shower, have dinner, a few beers, , sleep, do it again. It was awesome. I rode with, umd ( he's a legend around these parts of the intertubes) while I was there. and stayed with Joel and his family in Sacramento the week before that. I later rode 50 miles one way to Hollywood, and did the climb to the sign then rode back to the hotel. That was an awesome month.
Must do this again, soon.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:33 PM
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Originally Posted by surgeonstone
I once operated on a guy with a knife in his heart. Child stabbed him. ER doc called me, this in a country hospital in southern Ohio. I said ship him to the nearest cardiac hospital . He said no way, going down the tubes. So I rushed him up, opened his chest, repaired a 3 cm hole in his right ventricle. closed him up. The hospital treated me like a god for a month. Then back to normal. Interesting thing was that a perforated appendix on one of our typical three hundred pounders was in fact, a far more difficult operation. The patient had a corner car wash I drove by on the way home. He never failed to wave to me.
His son was mentally challenged. Fortunately he left his heart in the right place for me.

that was a long trip for that punchline.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
So do you think I could actually eat more while riding? Or is the 200 cal/hr thing sacrosanct?
only one way to find out. But a gel (or a Coke) is going to be available much more rapidly than a fig newton.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:35 PM
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Originally Posted by BillyD
Pffft! This pales in comparison, I can tell you that. In the Razor & Pcad days, you could not catch up if you did not keep up.

Ahem. I am a master at the art of catchup.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:36 PM
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Still feeling good, rain ride tomorrow...
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Old 07-27-14, 07:37 PM
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RUOkie can correct me, but I think we start with 1500-1800 calories in reserve. Keeping it somewhat in balance is the goal, without going into a negative. Eventually you will have to add protein to the mix, which is why I always had Perpetuem on hand. Whey protein is a bit easier on the system, but many folks can't seem to handle Hammer products. Gels and blocks are also on the menu, and Hostess Snowball are a certainty after 200 miles. I have yet to figure out how people can eat a whole meal while on a ride, but I have seen many a Rando do it. Not my thing, though the only full meal I eat each day is the salad I have for dinner.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:37 PM
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Originally Posted by LAJ
Do you carry any gels, or Shot Block type supplements? I believe in a combination of those, and in your case, the schedule of Fig Newtons you set.
No, I don't really know anything about gels other than the fact that they exist. I'll have to look into it. What is their advantage over food?

For me, I think the bonk actually started about 5 hours in, that's not a long time for me to ride. But I didn't take into account how much harder this day was than anything else I've ever done. Even that 7000 ft climb in the Ride Around the Bear wasn't as hard, it was long but not steep so I could just go at my regular effort level which I can do for a very very long time with my normal eating pattern. This climb was steeper, so I had to work much harder. I was burning way more calories than normal, I just didn't recognize it.

It was a good lesson, though, a tough climb like that I need to be 100% aware, not let the nutrition lapse afterwards.

Oh and I'm so sad. I'm afraid it means more training too. I guess I need to ride my bikes more.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:37 PM
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Originally Posted by BillyD
Yes, April 2013 we did 8,445 posts . . . for some crazy reason.

The following month we did 6,200.

The next month we did 5,100. This is the first we've hit the 5k mark since then.

But the all-time champ was Addiction II, from August to December 1, 2010, where the grand total was 51,600 at a monthly average of 12,000+ posts. Hot damn!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d8FTPv955I
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Old 07-27-14, 07:42 PM
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Originally Posted by Velo Vol
I know, right?

I also just started taking a new drug, which in addition to all the warnings about fatal side effects, says: "This medicine may change the color of your urine or feces."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6uEMOeDZsA
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Old 07-27-14, 07:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
My original plan for this summer was to prepare for the Mammoth Lakes Fall Century, which is a climbing (~8000 ft) at altitude. I had a pretty good idea how I was going to train and then Cycling Heroine suggested I do the Ride Around the Bear, that 100 mile ride with 9000 feet of crazy long climbs. Completing that changed everything training-wise, suddenly I felt like I could tackle much harder things. So a few weeks ago, I rode that Double Metric Century with Mr Hillclimber & Ms Ironman, 122 mi/7000 ft, and that seemed easy until the very end. That led me to wonder if I might be interested in longer randoneurring events and I found a 300k that I could work in to my schedule in late August. I was talking to Cycling Heroine about this possibility and said I'd need 135 and 150 mile routes to ride as training, what did she have? She sent me this ride that her friend, Mr 1200k had put together. We agreed to ride it at some point. So last Sunday, when Cycling Heroine asked if I'd decided on our long ride for this weekend, I said "let's just do Mr 1200k's route." She asked Mr 1200k if there was anything we should do to modify the route, he said he would just do the modifications and ride with us too. In the end, this turned out to be great, although it did introduce some issues- mostly that he wanted to start later, 7:30 despite the heat (I would have started 6:30) and that I didn't get the modified route until Thursday, so I couldn't familiarize myself with it as much as I would normally.

The day started off slow. I arrived at the meet-up spot at 7:15. No sign of them, I text Cycling Heroine, but no answer. I wonder if I'm in the wrong spot, but set my bike up anyway & am ready to go. They pull into the parking lot at 7:35 (oh we were *meeting* at 7:30, not rolling at 7:30) and we don't get going until 8, me all the time thinking how hot this is going to be, we won't be to the big climb until 11:30 now. I decide not to worry about it, my only other option is to abort and that seems stupid. So we head out of Ojai, north of Lake Casitas to climb Casitas Pass. Rollers at first, then two longer (a few mile) climbs, nothing too bad 5-7% grades at the worst. It's cool, in the 70s, but very humid and we are all sweating up a storm. Mr. 1200k rides up to me and tells me to ride the pass at my pace, save my legs for the Gibralter climb. Then he & Cycling Heroine take off, you wouldn't believe the pace at which they power up these hills. I'm on the final long climb, riding my pace as instructed, looking at the lake, and suddenly I see Mr. 1200k coming down the opposite side of the road at 40 mph. He tells me to keep going, finishes the descent and then starts back up. This is how it goes all day, if I get behind, he circles back around me like I'm a stray sheep. I start to think of him as a border collie, which turns out to be about right- he could easily do everything on this ride 3-4 times over, this 130 mile ride at my pace leaves him with so much energy to burn that he's constantly darting off on side streets, looking for other ideas for routes, riding in circles or zig zags. It could easily be annoying but it was just funny and actually impressive when you think about it.

Anyway, we make it over Casitas Pass, and make the descent down into Montecito, which is a ritzy suburb of already ritzy Santa Barbara. Lots of cyclists coming up the other way from SB, many fully kitted, lots of team & club rides. Once we're down in Montecito, we have some flats and rollers for awhile. We ride for miles in the vicinity of three young guys from some sort of racing team. Classic 41 types, it eventually turns out. They try to be sarcastic with me when I'm waiting at the bottom of a descent for CH & 1200k, I pretend I don't notice, wish them a nice ride and after we re-group, the three of us blow past them. We back & forth like that until both we & they are regrouping at the same spot before we start the series of little climbs that will take us to the big climb. 1200k is telling me & CH to stick to the route, he's going to explore a different way of getting to the same spot, see what it's like. CH is arguing with him (they bicker like a married couple), she wants to know where he's going & if it's better. Eventually we are semi-ordered back onto the route while he takes off. The young race boys take off at the same time and are riding with us, telling us that women should just always listen to their men. I can hear one of them behind us telling CH that he sees she has a 32 cog, he's doing this ride in a 28, which is much harder. Uh oh, she is super-competitive, I know what's going to happen now, she's just going to want to beat them at everything all day, this is going to turn into a race with the racer boys, which I want no part of. Then the one next to me tells me they are doing the Gibraltar climb. I tell him we are too and he replies "oh *really*?" Not sure if he's impressed or sarcastic, but whatever, riding with these guys is going to make CH mad, so I take off and she follows me. Soon we're going to have a turn and a nasty short climb- 10% for about a mile- I will be slow up that, but I don't want her wasting energy embarrassing the boys up that hill. I tell her I know of a water/restroom stop half way up that hill, I want to stop.

We start up that hill, as predicted CH takes off like a rocket. I'm slow, so I'm back to riding with the racer boys for awhile. One of them starts with me again, "Nice bike, this must be your first ride on it." Whatever. I can tell from his mocking tone that he's somehow trying to be insulting but I can't even figure out how that would be insulting. I tell him no, this is not my first ride, I've had the bike 5 months and have ridden it 3000 miles. Then I proceed to tell them it is a Magic Bike, it's capable of anything. They all just look at me, they have no response, they can't tell if I'm kidding. But I don't really care and thankfully we are at the rest room break where CH is waiting for me. That stop did manage to shake us of those guys, happy to report we didn't see them again all day.

We continue on, meet back up with 1200k and keep doing our series of little climbs. They are faster than me, I fall behind on the climbs, so there's lots of regrouping. There's lots of turns on this route, good thing 1200k is with us, we don't even have our route sheets out. At one point we blow past him while he is checking something on his phone. We don't realize that to stay on the road we were on, we needed to make a right turn and we fly down this steep little 1/4 mi descent. About 1/2 mi later, I see a street sign and realize we're off course. I get out my route sheet right as she gets a call from him. Lovely. We get to ride back up that steep descent. Which turns out to be 1/4 mi at ave 15% with some nice little blips at 20-22%. 1200k of course rides down and then back up, taunting us and laughing at us for making this of all wrong turns. I find on this hill that I can indeed pedal my bike at 3mph and not fall over. Halfway up, I have to stop, I ride a little bit up a steep driveway, catch my breath and launch myself down the driveway to give me some momentum up the hill. I almost overshot, lol, which would have landed me in a ditch on the other side of the road. Finally we make it back on course and the next few miles we are explaining to 1200k how our wrong turn was his fault, he is supposed to be our guide. He's having none of it, we tells us are responsible for ourselves. Which is completely correct, of course, even though we don't admit it. And that is very emblematic of how he rides this with us- would never let us get into real trouble but no hand-holding, either, he try to keep you from making mistakes but will let the mistake happen rather than argue with you. A very good person to ride with.

Anyway, more climbing to get to the climb, they get way ahead of me but we regroup near the bottom. As predicted, we have arrived to the big climb, Gibraltar Rd, around 11:30 and it's getting hot. I've been unable to find consistent stats on this Gibraltar climb and now I see why. We are joining the road from the west, people climbing from the SB to the south have already been on it for awhile. We are coming at it from a short connector road, El Cielito, which is a bit of a (short) climb in itself. Then when you get to the top of Gibraltar, there are 3 options: 1. Turn around & descend how you came, 2. Turn right to stay on Gibraltar and climb some more, or 3. Continue straight ahead, descend a little bit, then climb up to the summit at La Cumbre, which is what we're doing. I prefer to do these climbs with a better idea in my head of the stats on the hill. It turns out El Cielito is 1/4 mi at 8%, then Gibraltar is 6 miles at 8%, while Gibraltar all the way to La Cumbre is 8 miles at 7%. Of course those are average grades, and the second half of Gibraltar is harder than the first- lots of 10-11-12% bits at the end. The temps vary quite a bit- for awhile I was climbing in clouds and a breeze, temps in the mid 80s. But at the end, it got really steep, no clouds, no wind, climbing on asphalt- that was very very tough. I had to stop 5 times and I don't like to stop on long climbs, I lose my momentum. Then within 0.3 miles from the top, who do I see but 1200k, coming down to look for me in true border collie fashion. I'm miserably hot and I must look discouraged because he tells me only 0.3 mi to the top, they've only been waiting for me for a minute and a half, which is the most blatant lie I've ever heard. So sweet of him, though, and he's not a sweet guy- it blatantness of it kept me going.

Finally we get to the top, so relieved. CH is hunkered in the shade of a bush which is the only shade around. I take a break, cool off, drink a bunch and then we get distracted by a guy who just made it within 20 feet of the top, he got off his bike and is standing in the middle of the road in the merciless sun, slumped over his bike. We're trying to get him into our shade, he looks like he might collapse. For a little bit he can't speak or move, but finally we give him our shady spot, get him drinking & eventually talking. He's revived enough that we feel ok leaving him and we take off for La Cumbre peak. In the distraction of the dehydrated guy, I realize forgot to eat anything but figure I can catch up at the La Cumbre summit. We have a short descent, then another 1.5 miles of 8-11% climbing. It was hard but the end was in sight, so psychologically easier. Plus some beautiful views both to the south- Pacific Ocean with low clouds and the peaks of the Channel Islands poking through the top- and north- some dramatic treeless brown mountains, you could see every fold in the earth and imagine the tectonic plates crumpling the overlying land. At the summit, I eat and drink a bit, and we chat about what's next- a long descent on Old San Marcos Road, which is dangerous with lots of broken pavement and very sharp curves, we must be very conservative and cautious with this descent. Then we'll wind through SB for 15 miles or so, then lunch. Yay lunch, I'm getting hungry, figure we'll be eating in another hour and a half.

So off we head off, descending for a few miles. Then I look ahead and see a climb. It seems like a mirage to me, I'm doubting it's real. There must be a turn-off somewhere in a low-point that I can't see. We're done climbing. This can't be real. But it was. A few more miles of climbing. In the heat. Decently steep stuff. It makes me angry. I want to stop. I start wondering if any busses come up here (ridiculous thought, we're in a very remote place) and decide if I see a bus stop, I'm going to abandon this ride & wait for the bus. But there is really no option other than to keep going, and I eventually get to the top where CH & 1200k are waiting. He's sorry, he totally forgot about that last little bit of climbing. NOW we're starting the descent, I'm so relieved to hear that, I just want to get going and get to lunch. I don't eat anything, which was a mistake.

The descent is crazy twisty and not that fun because you have to constantly bleed off all your speed to make these hairpin turns. CH is slow on descents and really slow on this one, so for finally I'm not the one everyone is waiting for. The descent takes longer than expected, we stop halfway down, but still I don't eat anything until we get to the bottom. Now it's just 15 miles to lunch, its around 3pm. I'm thinking about an hour. But we stop to get water, then a separate rest room stop, then 10 miles of headwinds. We form a nice pace line behind 1200k who is a big guy and strong as an ox, but still I sometimes drop off the back. I'm so hungry that I eat a little more on the bike even though I know we're within a mile of the lunch stop. Finally we make it, I eat an enormous Cuban sandwich, chips and a coke, probably 1200 calories. I'm afraid it's too much, that I won't be able to digest it all, but that was no issue.

After about 45 minutes for lunch, we take off- just 60 miles to go. I'm tired but there's just a few little hills left in Santa Barbara, then the ride along the PCH is easy, flat or downhill with a tailwind. It's 18 miles from the southern suburbs of SB to Ventura, then a gradual 12-15 mile climb from Ventura to Ojai to finish. I'm a little worried about that long uphill at the end, but it's easy stuff, like 3% grade, I figure I'll just have to find a way to get it done.

The tour through Santa Barbara is nice. Any little hill, though, slows me way down, my legs are spent. By the time we get to the southern part of SB, I'm feeling really tired & we still have 35 miles to go. 1200k asks me if I want to stop to get a coke before we make the leap onto the PCH, there will be nowhere to stop. I say no, thinking I have plenty of water. Of course I realize now that what he was actually saying is "you should stop & get a coke." He considers coke to be magic juice.

As we're riding south to Ventura, I start to feel weaker. Not totally failing, I'm managing an 18 mph pace. But I'm weak and having trouble thinking. They recognize it and make me stop to eat and drink a little. 1200k sets the pace and he's riding exactly what I am capable of somehow, no more dashing off ahead, CH is behind me and for the first time all day, never passes me once, just pulls along side me to chat. I can tell by their actions that I must be bonking, which has never happened to me before. But still they never tell me what to do, just ask questions like, "When we get to Ventura, does anyone want to get a slice of pizza and a coke?" My fuzzy-headed self has finally clued in to the fact that these questions are not really questions, so I say yea, I want a slice of pizza.

We make it to Ventura, plunk down at the picnic tables at the pizza place. 1200k brings me a slice and a coke, I eat, drink and am revived. I also drink a full bottle of Skratch and I start to feel semi-normal again. Except it's 7:30pm, the sun is going down, it's 60 degrees and there's a cold ocean wind blowing. I'm suddenly very chilled, comment on that and 1200k asks if I have a jacket. He tells me to never let myself get cold, once that happens its almost too late. So I bundle up in my jacket and we decide to get rolling. I'm worried I'll have trouble on that long gradual climb back to Ojai, but it is no problem at all. I want to be done, but I finish strong and that last bit seems almost easy. 1200k even saves the day when I realize my Garmin has died and after all that work, I will have nothing to put up on Strava. Biggest crisis of the day, we all agree 100% on that, lol. No worries, he says, I have an external battery. So do I, but how does that help if the Garmin is already dead. He explains it's all ok if you catch it while you're still riding, actually the display stops working before the computer does. We get the battery hooked up with 5 miles to go and the data is all there, we continue on, all of us very happy that crisis has been averted.

We finally make it back to the cars around 9:30pm, what a long day. I drink my icy cold chocolate milk from my cooler. We had been planning on dinner afterwards but none of us are hungry with the recent pizza stop, so we chat for awhile and eventually decide to just head home. CH asks how I felt about the ride, I tell her great, very happy to have finished, just a little disappointed to have managed my calories so poorly. She tells me that's what it's all about, rides like this. Serious endurance riding is different, it's a learning process to get all the nuances down. She's totally right about that, and I realize that I have totally lucked out once again, it was a great experience to ride this ride with the two of them to keep me out of trouble.

In the end, it was 131 miles/9880 ft of climbing, both personal bests for me. About 10:25 pedaling time, 13:25 on the course. And with the Gibraltar climb, we checked off #47 of the top 100 climbs in California, we are now 2% of the way there, lol. Next Saturday is my Big Bear ride. I'm registered for the 70 mile ride, but have been thinking of doing the 100 mile route instead. I'll see how I feel next weekend, right now I'm pretty tired. Good tired, though.


tldr, ffs
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Old 07-27-14, 07:46 PM
  #5145  
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
Oh and I'm so sad. I'm afraid it means more training too. I guess I need to ride my bikes more.
...a Cautionary Tale from today's LA times. I just hope I don't have to drive down there for an intervention.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:49 PM
  #5146  
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Originally Posted by 3alarmer
...only the smart ones, which pretty much screens out the hard core roadies.

HEY! ,...... um....wut?......
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Old 07-27-14, 07:50 PM
  #5147  
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Originally Posted by ls01
Heathpack, dont take this to heart, but right now I absolutely hate you. A couple years ago I spent 10 days right where you are now (or were) It was and still is one of the finest weeks+ of riding I have ever done. Get up ride for half a day or so, eat lunch, shower, nap, ride some more, shower, have dinner, a few beers, , sleep, do it again. It was awesome. I rode with, umd ( he's a legend around these parts of the intertubes) while I was there. and stayed with Joel and his family in Sacramento the week before that. I later rode 50 miles one way to Hollywood, and did the climb to the sign then rode back to the hotel. That was an awesome month.
Must do this again, soon.
Did you do this Gibraltar Rd climb?

You are welcome to visit any time. I am always looking for someone to babysit me on these climbs.

I have the list of the 100 Toughest Climbs in California. You can come help me check a few off my list.
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Old 07-27-14, 07:54 PM
  #5148  
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
No, I don't really know anything about gels other than the fact that they exist. I'll have to look into it. What is their advantage over food?

Oh and I'm so sad. I'm afraid it means more training too. I guess I need to ride my bikes more.
Dangit she says.

Buy All Natural Accel Gel - Protein Sports Gel | Official Trusted Site

Those are my favorites, with the Raspberry one being the one that I choose. They hit quicker, and I prefer to use use them along with my Nutri-Grain bars. I like something in my stomach, which is why I don't subsist on just gels, or Bloks.

Clif Bar - Shot - BLOKS
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Old 07-27-14, 07:57 PM
  #5149  
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Originally Posted by Heathpack
Did you do this Gibraltar Rd climb?

You are welcome to visit any time. I am always looking for someone to babysit me on these climbs.

I have the list of the 100 Toughest Climbs in California. You can come help me check a few off my list.
(Sigh) Perhaps some day. I need a few years at the job to accumulate that kind of vacation time to make it worth it. I do intend to come back there some day, its just to nice not to do it again. It does make riding here suck a bit though by comparison, especially in the winter.



EDIT: I still, to this day, carry the hand written directions to Hollywood and the sign, in my wallet.

Last edited by ls01; 07-27-14 at 08:02 PM.
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Old 07-27-14, 08:00 PM
  #5150  
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Originally Posted by ls01
Ahem. I am a master at the art of ketchup.
I prefer mustard
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