Thursday, July 7, 2011

Thursday double bike

 We've had some pretty severe weather up here today with lots of lightening and off and on rain. I cut my ride short for fear of my life. Today was originally planned as a bike/ long run but my motivation to run wasn't there. So this morning was a 1:00 ride up on a super steep jeep road with tons of loose rock. The goal was technical skill work but the climbs were anaerobic at times so it was intervals also.
 Then mid-morning was almost 3 laps on Walker Ranch. It started dumping rain so I bailed off the trail and hit the road. Walker was treacherous in the rain and the rocks were getting slick quick. My upper body is exhausted from ~20 miles on Walker (in a masochistic way carrying my bike up the stairs is my favorite part... brutal. I was holding HR 160-170 hiking up) I can't imagine how it will be after 7 hours at Leadville hitting Powerline and St Kevins!? Another 4+ hour day on the MT bike with just shy of 7k vertical.

7 comments:

Brandon Fuller said...

Do you have a flag preference? Trying to figure out what i should be waving as i follow you up Powerline TdF style.

Dave said...

"The goal was technical skill work but the climbs were anaerobic at times so it was intervals also."

That's what I LOVE about the mtb. You're at the mercy of what's going on with your terrain, the weather, etc. In some ways ANY outdoor sport is at the mercy of the elements, but mountain biking really falls 'victim' to it.

I've ridden the same trails hundreds of times now, and I can't say that any ride was the same as a previous one.

Lucho said...

Ha! Brandon, I would seriously love that! It would be a huge boost. I would say a skull and cross bones.

Dave- I'm also amazed at the ridiculous spikes in power at times to get over a rock or up tech section. There are bursts of 600+ watts at times like a 3" max effort. I'm also amazed at how my upper body is wasted. Walker Ranch has 1700ft of climbing in 7.5 miles and is somewhat technical at times. My weakness is hitting technical terrain at race speed... heading down a 8% grade with boulders and scree at 20mph... yikes! Total adrenaline rush though when you are out of control and just flying on instinct and survival skills! I'm 100% addicted! I also got my Reba Race fork yesterday and ditched the rigid fork finally! It increased my skill level by 50%. Next is a proper 2X10 crankset. I'm running 42/32 chainrings which is making me strong, but I need a little more for Leadville I think. 42/28 is what I'll run.... I'm rambling now.

trudginalong said...

Time to bust out the wolf suit for the run up Powerline!

Brandon Fuller said...

I have just the flag!

GZ said...

Any word on if anyone has a list of combined times on these events?

Lucho said...

They have a dead link to Silver King results and I e-mailed the organizers regarding the record but they had no clue. Tim Long thinks it's in the 14:00 range. I should be able to get the bike in under 5:00 with out killing myself (but I plan to kill myself).