Mr. Beanz

Thursday 4/08....Rode GMR up to the shack posing for some footage. That and trying to get my fat butt back into some kind of shape. Always discoraging when you see other riders hauling butt up GMR. Which brings me to teh meeting of SScheetz andhis wife. I see them up there all the time, both superfast and making it look ez! First time we met and spoke but I've seen them before. Matter of fact, I saw Mrs SScheetz on the last ride with Hillbasher. She flew by us with a smile as we were both huffing and puffing gasping for air hehehe!


SScheetz, finally slowed enough to catch with the lens!


Mrs Intervals...look at her, shes still laughing at me and Hillbasher!


SScheetz in action

subligar

A: nice weather (envy)
B: are you ever not riding up some giant hill?

Mr. Beanz

A) A bit cool and windy for us Californians on the trail (Easter Sunday) but nice compared to most states. Rain expected on Monday again, a day here and there of rain, but overall very nice and it's warmng up. I believe it was 85 on today's ride up the mountain.

B) Of course, I ride the flat trails with the wife and a friend or two on the weekends.

Pinyon

85? That does not compute for me. There was snow on the street here a few days ago. It will get up into the low 60s today, and drop back down to about 30 tonight.

I feel your pain with the hills. I've been passed a lot this spring by other riders. Need to lose some of this butt...

Mr. Beanz

Snow? Hmmm, I posted something about snow the other day while posting a CA video. Another poster said the snow states are all done with it by now. Now I'm all confused!

I actually don't feel bad about being passed by these riders. They are blazing fast! But they are cool about it, even smile when they pass you!.

I'm pretty sure at my best, even better than my best, they'd still kill me!

But I did get to use my Clyde Advantage yesterday as we did a 7 mile twisty descent around eachother.....and he did sign on!

deep_sky

I climbed Montebello for the first time yesterday, for those in the know of the bay area climbs. The elevation profile I viewed the night before might be technically right, but it is damn near a lie. Mostly double digit grades for the first two miles (was a stretch of 15+ for about 200 yards or so), a nice flat section (by flat i mean between 1-3%) for about a mile, then some 8% goods for a mile, and then back up to the double digits for a bit then variable (8-10%) to the top. Took me 1.5 hours, 2000' of climbing and a bit over 5 miles total. Without a doubt the hardest climb I have ever done. I got to the top, got off my bike, and just laid down on the ground a bit before inhaling half of my second water bottle. Thank goodness my friend Christine was there, encouraging me on when I wanted to quit.
It will be some time before I subject myself to that again

Mr. Beanz

Post the proifle, let's take a look at it, unless this is it?

https://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=48579

deep_sky

That's correct climb, but I got my data from here : https://lowkeyhillclimbs.com/2010/week1/profile.html

Those numbers apparently are an average, and the image fails to note the actual profile of climbing, as 12% is harder than 9% especially for over a mile

Mr. Beanz

The straight line of the graph shows the climb is consistent. Pretty sure that's why the line is placed on the graph. Along with the line that shows the consistent 8%. The graph I linked also does not show any section of the climb that is 12% for 1 mile, it too is consistent. Not sure where you get the 12% for a mile.

If you look at the graph the other dude posted, it shows his speeds at each point of the climb. All consistent, I don't see a point that would be 12% for a mile.

deep_sky

My altimeter also measures grade. If it was very short stretches of that grade, the altimeter would not pick it up (barometic variant), but every time I looked down at it, it was 11 or 12% and I was hurting enough that I was looking for anything to make me feel better, such as climbing such a grade for such a long time (to me). 9% is the average, because there are a few short stretches(closer to where the flattened section is and a small bit after you make the first turn from the beginning stretch) where it eases up to 5-6%, but those were rather short, and not enough for me to garner any real recovery time, just a lessening of "OMG my quads are on fire!" for a bit. The first part was a lot worse than the part after the flattened section because it was in general less steep, although by that point anything over 8% was enough to elicit a groan from me.

That guy also did it quite a bit faster than me, so he probably doesn't slow to a snail's pace once things get over 10% like I do. Lot of the climbers in my club, due to any number of reasons, don't seem to bob up and down in speed as much because they are strong enough to power through the steeper sections better without the drop in speed that less fit folks like myself do (up to a point, as anyone unless they are pro is going to slow down up something nasty like welch rd).

Herbie53

Nice work!

I find anything over 8% to be a real PIA!!!.. maybe that's just the excessive gravity that seems to surround my bike (caused by the aura that surrounds all carbon fiber bikes - same thing that makes them randomly explode).

Now go do it again!

Herbie53

I've been riding with some faster guys lately. They drop me on a regular basis and seem to really enjoy doing so, but are actually darn nice people!!! and don't mind me attempting to hang in. Suppose even they had to start somewhere. Kinda wrecks that whole road nazi image some like to go for / believe I think.

Very nice video again BTW. I'm not even going to bother trying to match your camera work, interview skills or exceptional cinematography... Hollywood!!!

deep_sky

It will probably be some time before I do so; they are clearing brush along side of the road, which means delays going up and down, and given that the majority of the climb is in the sun, no way am I climbing that in the summer, which is probably when they will be done with the brush-clearing. Supposedly it hasn't been done in roughly 20 years, so it seems to be slow going, at least according to the guys manning the stop locations.

I'll continue to practice long climbs on less severe climbs, most likely. Killing myself on something thats just a bit out of my league seems less productive than doing multiple climbs per week that make me work hard, but not make me wish I was not outside on my bike.

Mr. Beanz

Haha! Thanks! Interview skills? hehehe, I don't think so! I'm shocked that lately, I just pull the Flip and the women start talking!..Much more than the men! I'm not sure how much longer Gina will let me keep the Flip!

MVclyde

Ok, so post the womenz videos. Great job! Nice vids.

Mr. Beanz

I have, several places, times. You're slippn'!

MVclyde

Yeah, I saw them. Just fishin for more! Trying to stay motivated!

Herbie53

Perhaps, but I think you may be surprised what you are capable of if you at least occasionally challenge yourself (a longer climb, a faster group ride, a longer ride, an extra few intervals/hill repeats, etc).

Mountain View... hmmmm. You're not the far from Mt. Diablo.

Like I've scene on somebody's signature, it doesn't get easier you just go _______ (faster, further, higher, etc.).

Mr. Beanz

That's the classic Clyde/Athena weakenss, shying away from hills/mtns. Like Herbie says, it gets better and easier. Heat becomes less of a factor. Anybody that climbs will agrree. Those that don't agree, never keep it up that long enough to make that judgement.

Look around, the best riding clydes, climb! My grandma can do flats and downhills

deep_sky

It's been a relatively recent development, but I don't go on the flat rides my club organizes anymore. Unless there is 1800 or more feet of climbing in a ride (starting out at 30 miles, longer mileage more climb is acceptable), I don't trouble unless its a ride that pushes me to the limit because it's a ride at a pace that is beyond my comfort level. I find flat rides boring and not very challenging.

Heat, for me, will always be a factor. Last summer I suffered two cases of heat exhaustion despite plenty of water and electrolyte intake. It's a miserable feeling to know that your body is simply shutting down. Hallucinations, shivering in temps near 100, faintness, extreme muscle fatigue, not sweating at all...BLEH. I've determined that if the temps are over 85-90 degrees, my ass is staying home. I'm not risking that again.

Herbie-
I will be heading to Mt Diablo on May 1st, as that's when my club moves to that location for our long distance training series. Will be my first time climbing it. It will be long, but I think (except for the last part) it will be easier than Montebello in general. Length typically doesn't bother me, I could climb all day at 5% grade as long as I go slow and steady, but when it starts getting at 8 or more, I start needing a limit to the climbing.

Mr. Beanz

Yeah, that's not good! We do GMR (5,000 ft) in 100+ temps but it helps to start early (7 am) to beat the heat. Most of the tough climbing is done by the time the sun is full steam.

Like I said before, my wife really suffers in the heat. But twice she has made it up 16 miles of the 21 mile climb on GMR (app 4,000 ft). Once it was a 100+ day but we started at 7 am. Stopped at the 16 mile mark for a breather when a bee stung me on the neck Had to head back but I believe she would have made it that day! Not suggesting you try it in the heat, just shocked that my wife made it that far on a hot day!

deep_sky

My first case was during a 100k attempt. I knew it was going to be hot, but not even the weather people predicted this kind of heat. I left the start before 7am..by the time I started on Edgewood (short moderate climb) at 830am, it was over 90. I was already throwing up by that point, but knew that there was a rest stop not that far up ahead and some light rollers between me and it, and I thought that if I could get to it, I could rest a while and recover. I got to about 5 miles short of the stop, 25 miles into the ride, and I had to stop, as it was near 100 at that point at 10am in the goddamn morning. Fortunately, at that point there was a Team In Training event going on at the location I stopped at, and as I huddled on a bench, shivering and not sweating, the two ladies manning the water cooler noticed my distress, and tried to start cooling me down, as I was just basically overheating despite being full of water and cytomax. One of them had a son who was a paramedic and she called him to ask what to do, and followed his instructions, which definitely helped. They also called the SAG for the ride I was on, and arranged for my pick up. They continued to attend to me until the SAG showed up, and once I got back to the start, the folks manning the tables there (it was at a jewish school) tossed me into an air conditioned room, fed me what must have been an entire watermelon and a gallon of gatorade over the next two hours. All the folks helping me had been to Israel in the dead of summer and had experience with this, so they knew how to get me cooled down. Once they deemed me ok, I called the bf to bring me home, and I slept the rest of the day away. Took me 2 days to recover from that. I tried another warm ride later on in the summer, and had the same thing happen (was 92 out so wasn't quite as hot and the route was shaded), so I know now that my body will simply not tolerate anything over 90.

I wish it was just a matter of conditioning, but it seems to be a hard limit that my body simpy will not allow me to exceed.

gotls1

Do you ride with Western Wheelers? Which pace group do you ride with?