My chosen steed for entry in the Aero fixie class for the Beat the clock TT on Canada road:
The TK3 is designed for the Track but fortunately it is able to accept a front brake for use on the road. I was very lucky with my purchase of this bike as it fits me like a glove. Even though I have only ridden it 3 times this year I instantly feel at home as soon as I turn a pedal and the fixed gear setup is an absolute pleasure to use. This is the opposite of my Trek TTX time trial bike that takes me an absolute age to feel at home on.
I decided to ride a 42 x15 Gear which is equal to 80RPM at 20MPH ,100RPM at 25MPH and 120RPM at 30MPH. I also kitted up with a skinsuit and aero helmet to help with aerodynamics. I love the purity of a fixed gear machine, all you need to think about is turning over the pedals as quickly as you can. My friend Digby from the UK swears by fixed gear for time trialing but I reckon unless you are on a pan flat course there is always some sort of compromise.
In my previous blog posting I reported the nasty cold that I have been fighting with since coming back from Italy. Fortunately by Thursday of this week the chest infection broke just leaving me with sinus issues which were not bad enough to stop me racing. I was hoping for a warm day for the BTC TT as this helps my respiratory system but today was actually a little cool (low to mid 50′s) so the snot was flowing nicely on the warmup.
On the race itself it felt like there was a bit of a headwind out but I think in hindsight there was actually very little wind at all. I was a little worried about spinning out on the first down hill but I only managed to hit 33.1 MPH which was manageable. Once the race course flattened out a little I got into a good smooth rhythm and felt pretty good. I felt a little flat and I was definitely down on power but nowhere near as bad as I imagined. I would probably lay a good portion of the blame on being race rusty after not racing for over 3 weeks rather than just the ill effects from my cold.
When I hit the first uphill section I felt a over geared and was a little concerned to see my speed drop to below 20MPH. Thoughts started going through my head that I might not even beat my single speed Merckx time. I upped my pace a little after the climb and got a good pace going before the next little climb which is about 1/2 mile before the turn. This little climb always kills me no matter what bike I ride and today was no exception. My speed dropped to 18MPH and I had to get out of the saddle for the first time.
The turn was a little bit interesting on fixed wheel and I took a pretty wide arc but didn’t lose much time. I hit the turn with the clock at 12m10s which I hoped would mean the possibility of breaking into a 24 minute time. I was also hoping for a tailwind for the return leg to counteract the uphills. I reckon there was a slight tailwind on the way back but not enough to help very much.
At around 7.8 miles the final climb to the finish starts and it is a stair step affair with three distinct sections. I got out of the saddle on the first one and tried my best to keep over 20MPH but dropped to 18MPH. On the second step I tired a little more and dropped to 18MPH again. I blew up a bit on the final push to the finish and my speed dropped down to 17MPH for a brief section which killed my momentum enough to fall outside 24 minute region. My time was 25m04s which I was happy with.
I really enjoyed riding my fixed gear track bike and I reckon I could knock a minute off my time today with a disk wheel and a bit of training.
Time: 25:05
Winner: Ethan Sopenski (22:27)
Class Position : 1st single speed [only one entered so that's hardly surprising ]
Overall Position: 24th
Link to Results: Results
No, I haven’t stopped posting to my blog…… I just haven’t been riding much.
May has not been a good cycling month for me. A combination of work and sickness has left me about 600 miles down on my usual monthly mileage. I ended up picking up a cold and sinus infection on my trip to Italy which curbed my training for the week before the HPV racing day on the 19th May. I actually was feeling much better for this event but couldn’t ride due to losing my wallet. I went out for a hard ride on Sunday instead and promptly ended up worse than ever on the Monday with a chest infection added into the mix. This week I have been miserably fighting off a cold that just doesn’t seem to want to shift and my only riding has been a very steady commute to work.
Unfortunately this rotten May has really put the dampers on what was one of my big personal goals for the year, in the shape of the “Dunlap TT”, where I was really hoping to get a win in my category. Even if I was to have a miraculous recovery it is unlikely I could knock myself back into race winning form in just over a week. For June I am planning to concentrate on regular bikes and give my recumbents a rest in the hope that I can finally crack my 21 minute nemesis on Putah Creek.
Lungs permitting here are my planned events for the next month:
May 26th : Beat The Clock 10 TT: Felt TK3 Fixed Gear.
May 30th: Putah Creek 40K: Trek TTX TT Bike.
June 3rd: Dunlap TT: Trek TTX TT Bike.
June 6th: Putah Creek 10 TT. Trek TTX TT Bike.
June 13th: Putah Creek 10 TT. Trek TTX TT Bike.
June 27th: Putah Creek 10 TT. Trek TTX TT Bike.
My next big goal is the Caleveras TT on July 28th.
The Devil Mountain Double really took a lot out of me and I have been pretty sick since riding it. I either picked up a bug during it or my tired state allowed an existing one to take hold, Despite feeling very rough, I made a last minute decision to ride PCSD#4 as my wife was going anyways. My choice of the word “ride” is deliberate as I didn’t think I would be able to “race” it. My chosen weapon for the night was my Catbike Musashi recumbent, which is entirely stock with no sort of aerodynamic tweaks, and I chose to wear mountain bike shoes, no skinsuit and a regular helmet.
It was another really windy night again with a nasty crosswind on the start/finish straight. It was generally easier on the way back but definitely not a very fast night for me. On the warmup I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would but I was definitely not firing on all cylinders. My race jersey was flapping badly in the wind so I went back to the car and pinned it down to attempt to make it more aerodynamic but it was still flapping under my chin (see picture above).
In the race I set off as if I was at 100% fitness and was OK for the first mile but I fatigued very quickly. The time trial became a a bit of a grind and I couldn’t really push as hard as I normally do. The two 90 degree corners were very gravelly and I took great care but I am surprised no-one went down on them. I was pushing 27 MPH plus on the way back at times and the Musashi felt really good but I didn’t have the legs to get 30MPH. It just felt like I was running on 6 cylinders rather than 8. I got a bit upset that someone did a U turn at the finish in front of me which forced me to have to brake before the line but I feel bad for shouting at him. I ended up with a time of 23m31s which is my second slowest time ever on Putah Creek (on two wheels) but not untypical for the week after a double. Last year I did a PCSD the week after the Terrible Two and did 23m25s.
I think the Musashi has promise and I plan to have another attempt on it when I am a not so under the weather. Considering how run down I felt and the lack of aero equipment the time wasnt actually that bad. Next morning I was too sick to ride my bike
Link To Official Results. (will be updated when published)
I did more mile on the trike this month than I did in the whole of 2011 and this resulted in a pretty recumbent heavy bias (64%). Road bike riding made up only 4% of my mileage which is in stark contrast to 2011 where I was having a time out from the off road and recumbent stuff.
I got up at 3:45am after a restless nights sleep spent worrying about the event and was driven to the 5am start by my wife. I used to fret about not getting enough sleep before an event but now I just think of what Cyril Guimard said to Greg Lemond on the morning before he won the world championships. Lemond had had little to no sleep the night before and Guimard just said ” Greg, all the great exploits are done on no sleep”. The weather was quite cool so I figured that long fingered gloves and a wind vest were the order of the day. I was the only recumbent in the staging area and got lots of funny looks from people.
I wasn’t too worried about doing any particular time but I did want to try to average 12.7MPH up to the final checkpoint so that I could ride Niles Canyon in daylight. I had lots of doubts before the off as deep down inside I didn’t really think completing DMD on a recumbent trike was possible. I did however want to be the first person to beat the DMD on a Trike so I was not going to go down without a fight.
[At the Start]
[Riders Patiently Waiting for the off]
Start to Top of Diablo Rest Stop #1: 19.6 miles
As soon as the ride started I immediately had a problem with the trike. Despite my brakes working perfectly when I tested them yesterday, as soon as I applied the left brake it grabbed and vibrated badly. I must have somehow contaminated the rotor and there was nothing I could do about it. The noise went away if the brake was applied with full pressure but it is rare you ever need that much braking force. Fortunately the Catrike doesn’t have brake steer so I could still brake smoothly on the right.
The first climb of the day was the 3800ft Mount Diablo and this was the first time I have ever ridden it in the dark. I set a brisk pace but not too hard and soon found myself about mid pack in a group of 3 riders (including Internet friend Bassem). About half way up the climb the sun raised its head and we were treated to a lovely early morning vista of the bay area. As we got near the top I was gapped by my two riding companions and I found the last 200m of the climb a real struggle. It was on this very steep section that I discovered that the new rear tire I fitted to combat wheel-spin was not really working very well. In first gear I could easily overcome the available grip.
I crested Diablo in 1h54m which put my average speed at 10.3MPH. this was well down on my target of 12.75MPH but I wasn’t too concerned as the first 20 miles were virtually all up hill. I was encouraged with my climbing performance on the trike and was shocked to be climbing mid pack.
[My climbing Companions For Diablo as the sun came up]
[The Very hard top section of Diablo - No getting out of the saddle for me]
[The top of Diablo]
Diablo Rest Stop#1 to Morgan Territory Rest stop #2. 19.6 to 51.8 miles.
The descent of Diablo was quite fun but very cold. My squawking left brake made me have to descend much more carefully than normal but I developed a technique of braking late and hard to shut it up. I was not looking forward to Marsh Creek Road as it is hilly, bumpy, has no shoulder and often has aggressive drivers. I tried my best to stay in a small group as we pulled out of Clayton but they dropped me on the first serious climb.
[Pulling out of Clayton and heading onto Marsh Creek Road - Diablo in the background]
Fortunately Marsh Creek was very light on traffic at the hour we were on it so it was actually quite enjoyable. The next big climb was “Morgan Territories” which is a steep, bumpy and twisty single lane road that winds it’s way through tree lined park land. It’s a very scenic road that suffers from pretty poor pavement and this made certain sections pretty nasty on the trike. Even though my new Catrike seat did a fantastic job of isolating road buzz there was no way to avoid the potholes hidden by a thin layer of chipseal. This climb was quite challenging on the trike and I got passed by lots of riders. The top section has some very steep and dirty corners and I had to ride carefully to keep traction.
Just before I got to rest stop number 2 I actually got caught by a bunch of riders that set off an hour later. I pulled into rest stop 2 in 4h07m which put my average speed at 12.6MPH and I was almost back on schedule. It was already getting really warm so I got rid of the Wind vest and gloves and hoped things were not to chilly on the descent.
Morgan Territories Rest Stop#2 to Patterson Pass c.p. 51.8 to 79.7 Miles
The descent of Morgan Territories was exhilarating (especially with my braking issues) and I was soon onto familiar home roads for the blast through Livermore and onto the Altamont Pass. The route actually passes with a few hundred meters of my house. I was feeling a little fatigued so I didn’t push the pace until I got onto the Altamont itself where a huge tailwind allowed me to catch and pass other riders like they were stopped. I saw speeds over 40MPH at times and I reckon I could have gone a lot faster with fresh legs. I paid dearly for my exuberance once I hit the climb on Midway and was forced down onto the grannie ring which would be the story for the rest of the day.
The next big climb was Patterson Pass and on this climb mother nature really turned up the heat. There were 3 steep sections on Patterson where I needed bottom gear and suffered some traction issues and all the people I had passed on the Altamont (+ others) came past me as I leg pressed my way up the grade.
[Steep Section 1 - Patterson Pass]
[Steep Section 2 - Patterson Pass]
[Road graffiti to chill the unwary traveler]
The Mini Checkpoint at 79.7 Miles is just before the final steep section so I chose not to stop especially as the next rest stop was only about 11 miles away. I passed through the Check Point at 6 hours which meant my average speed had climbed to 13.3MPH (ahead of target).
Patterson Pass c.p. to Mines Road Rest Stop #3. 79.7 to 90.9 Miles
[The final Steep section In the distance]
The top section of Patterson Pass is hard with fresh legs but after 80 miles it was quite a struggle. I found myself down in bottom gear trying to avoid wheelspin by pedaling as smoothly as possible. Lady number 9 passed me again near the top and I was glad of the company on the flying descent down to cross road. The wind in your face was very refreshing after the oppressive heat of the preceding climb. The trike absolutely flew along the generally down hill section to the mines road turnoff and I made the most of it. I rode with Lady number 9 up to the Mines road rest stop with a sense of foreboding of what lay ahead ahead.
Mines Road Rest Stop #3 to Junction Cafe Rest Stop #4. 90.9 to 115.6 Miles.
I pulled into the rest stop at 6h42m which meant my average speed was up to 13,6MPH.
Mines road is one of my favorite riding roads and despite the climbing I normally find it enjoyable on the trike. With 90 miles in my legs it was much less enjoyable and I found myself riding at no more than a steady pace. The first part of the climb on Mines was really hot and I was passed by several riders but as the grade flattened I found myself riding alone. There was another event going the opposite way on Mines (Mount Hamilton Challenge) so I had a constant stream of riders to wave to which kept my spirits up. Mines was actually pretty busy today with lots of Ranchers trucks and bird watchers trying to catch glimpses of nesting Bald eagles. Thankfully I had a tailwind all the way along this section. It was with great relief that I started the last little climb before the Junction lunch stop but also my first encounter with a Cattle Guard on the 700. I thought the trike was going to shake itself apart on the Cattle Guard and it was absolutely horrendous. I knew I had another 3-4 of these things left to negotiate on The San Antonio Valley road and I hoped the trike would hold together.
[Mines Road Climb]
[The Final Climb on Mines]
Junction Cafe Rest Stop #4 to Crothers Road Rest Stop #5. 115.6 to 150.9 Miles.
I pulled into the rest stop at 8h50m which meant my average speed was down to 13,1MPH (a worrying trend that would continue).
I didn’t bother with any special lunch and instead just grabbed a ½ Banana and PBJ sandwich to eat on the hoof. I typically find that a combination of Hammer Perpeteum, Cliff Shot Blocks and the odd ½ Banana are enough to get me through a double. I did also sample a few strawberries which taste unbelievably good on doubles.
[First Section Of San Antonio Valley Road]
I absolutely hate the first section of the San Antonio Valley Road as it has a rough surface of chipseal that they just pasted over the top of a poorly made road without bothering to fill in the holes. The scenery is really nice but the constant jarring bumps makes it pretty miserable. I do not know how I would have survived this section with my old trike seat. For some strange reason the road didn’t seem so bad today and the time actually passed quite quickly. About half way along I encountered another horrendous Cattle Guard which marked the beginning of the Hamilton climbs.
[Just Before The Climbs]
The climb up the backside of Hamilton has 3 distinct climbs that get progressively harder and longer. They put a rest stop just before the final 6 mile grind to the summit but before you get there you are faced with two really hard climbs. I really suffered on both these climbs and my average speed began to plummet as I had to use first gear for long periods of time. Just to make matters worse, along this section of road my rear derailleur developed a squeak when in the lowest 3 gears (at least I think it was the deraileur as I never did manage to figure it out). Not only did I have the torture of slogging up the climbs in the oppressive heat but now I had to listen to a squeak too.
[The Start of the First Hump]
The two climbs went past without any incident of note other than my squealing brakes and a cool bobcat running out in front of me (They are a fantastic looking creature up close) until Icame to the bridge just before the water stop where I hit a huge bump and went airborne for a short while. That certainly woke me up but fortunately nothing was damaged. As I pulled into the water stop at the base of Hamilton (10 hours on the clock) I was feeling pretty tired and at a bit of a low ebb. I took on Perpeteum and the good wishes of the excellent volunteers and set about the brutal 6 mile climb to the summit.
[About half way up]
The Hamilton climb starts of at a reasonable gradient but one which at this stage of the game required the use of 2nd or 3rd gear. As my speed was pedestrian on the climb, the miles passed by incredibly slowly and I began to bake in the sun. The heat always seems to be an issue for me on this section of DMD. As is traditional for 90% of California climbs, Hamilton gets steeper as you get further up. With 3 miles to the summit I was down to bottom gear and starting to suffer from sore feet from the continuous pressure of trying to keep forward momentum. I was passed by a couple of riders but they didn’t seem to be in much better shape than I was. The last mile to the welcome sight of the Observatory at the summit was torturous.
[A Very Welcome Sight]
Hamilton descent has 3 distinct sections with climbs in between. These little climbs absolutely sap the very lifeblood out of you. The first descent is very bumpy and technical on the trike and absolutely no fun at all when you are very tired. The second section is a bit better but still suffers from big bumps and holes. The final descent however is pure trike bliss and it is my favorite triking down hill in California. I caught and passed a few riders on this bit and was in great spirits until I remembered the nasty little climb up to the Crothers rest Stop. By the time I got there I was feeling very tired and completely off the idea of food.
Crothers Road Rest Stop #5 to Pet The Goat .150.9 to 161.2 Miles.
I dragged myself into the Crothers Rest stop with 12h12m on the clock which meant my average speed had climbed to 13.2MPH
The next section had my most feared obstacle in it (other than Niles Canyon) in the shape of the Sierra Road Climb. In previous attempts of the DMD I have been reduced to having to stop several times on this climb and that was on a 17 pound road bike. I was genuinely worried about having to walk this one. I soft pedaled up to the base of the climb, dropped down to first gear and prayed. There is no other way to describe the climb other than absolutely horrible. It was hot, my feet hurt and I was barely able to achieve 3MPH so the climb took an eternity. I was the tortoise on Sierra Road, people passed me and then stopped further up the road and I would pass them again. Despite wheel spin, a quick bout of cramp in my toes and sore legs I managed to do the whole thing without a rest . The goat at “Pet the goat” had passed away so I made do with a banana and some icy cold HEED. I normally switch from Perpeteum to Heed for the later stages of doubles as I find it more refreshing.
[Climbing Sierra and Looking Rough]
[View From Sierra Road]
Pet The Goat to Sunol Rest Stop #6. 161.2 to 181.2 Miles.
Looking at my average speed (Now down to 11.9 MPH) I figured out that my goal of hitting Niles canyon in daylight was not really achievable but I was going to try. The descent of Felter is very fast and normally a lot of fun but my braking issues made me have to back off a lot. It was quite cold on the way down but I knew I would warm up again on Calaveras. The climb up the Calaveras Wall was hard but felt like a walk in the park after Sierra road. The first half of Calaveras is undulating and slow but once you get on the down hill bit it is great fun and I was having a blast on the trike. As I neared Sunol I was joined by my two climbing companions from Diablo and we entered the final rest stop together. It was time to fire up all the lights and put back on the cool weather gear. There was 15 hours on the clock as I pulled into this final rest stop (Average speed 12.1 MPH)
Sunol Rest Stop #6 to finish. 181.2 to 207 miles?? Miles.
I was terrified about Niles canyon. It is a busy road with several narrow sections with no shoulder. I was lit up like a Christmas tree and covered in reflectors but I still kept one wary eye on my rear view mirror. I absolutely hammered it down the canyon and everything went well until just after the first narrow bridge crossing. I got caught by an SUV on the section and there was no shoulder for me to use. The guy laid on his horn and this really got my adrenaline up so I sprinted like mad down the next straight and over a narrow bridge and into a turnout. I was doing over 30MPH trying my best not to impede traffic but there were about 5 cars/trucks that all let me know how upset they were with abuse and horn blaring. I was physically shaking from the experience.
With Niles out of the way I set about the climb of Palomares in the pitch black. It was an eerie climb on your own and it felt much longer than when you do it in the light. There was no traffic but the air was full of the sounds of Frogs and Wild birds. I was into cruise mode now which is the kind of pace you get into late in a double where you feel like you could practically ride forever on auto pilot. I was caught by a group of 6 riders about ¾ of the way up but was unable to lift my pace to hang on their wheels. The 6 riders stopped at the summit of the climb and I passed them for the descent. In the daylight Palomares is a super fast downhill but in the dark with only one properly working brake it is a different matter. I went fairly quickly but got caught by the 6 riders as I nursed my ever worsening left brake. Fortunately they passed me near the bottom so I got to draft down into Castro Valley in the relative safety of a big group.
I got dropped on a small climb just into Castro Valley and then hit 3 red stop lights in a row so I was on my own again as I passed through the busy streets. I was a bit intimidated through this section by big SUV’s blaring rap music and gangs of Harley riders doing the same. Crow Canyon Road is not much fun in the dark as there are many sections where there is little to no shoulder and the traffic can be quite aggressive. I rode through all sorts of junk on the side of the road and had my fingers crossed that I didn’t get a flat. About a mile before the Norris Canyon turnoff I got passed by my two Diablo Climbing companions again and rode behind them to the start of the final climb.
Norris canyon was pitch black, Calm and totally traffic free and what is more, I actually felt pretty good. I kept up with my companions to ¾ of the way up the climb and then my legs seemed to give up. I dropped down into the granny gear and spun my way to a euphoric final summit. I was tired but the end was in sight. I turned up my excellent front light to full power and bombed down the descent like a mad thing. I cared not who heard my brake squeal now. It is hard to describe just how fast a recumbent trike feels descending in the dark.
I wound my way through the last couple of stop signs and intersections at a good pace and I could taste the sweet smell of success. As I pulled into the hotel it finally dawned on me that I had completed the DMD on a recumbent trike!
My wife came to greet me and all the miles and suffering caught up with me and I felt totally drained but very happy. I had met some great people on the ride today (some I only knew previously through Strava and Twitter) and suffered and conquered with them. I could agree with Cyril Guimard and say that another great exploit was done on no sleep.
My stats for the day were : 207.48 Miles, 19,364ft of climbing , Total time 17h10m (Riding Time 16h31m) and an average speed of 12.1 MPH. My time of 17 hours was three hours slower than my best time on my Road Bike.
I had sore feet, muscles and neck but my Catrike 700 padded seat had remained comfortable all day (truly a remarkable feat). I felt a lot less sore than I normally do after a double but just as exhausted. I could have easily fallen asleep on the drive home after my belly was filled with the race finishers meal.
[After note: On Sunday I was totally wasted all day and actually didnt touch a bike at all. I was 7 pounds lighter on Sunday morning than when I weighed myself on Saturday morning and I actually ate and drank quite a lot on Saturday night. I dont think I have ever been so tired after a double]
If you are wondering what all that aggressive cornering and wheelspin did to a brand new Vittoria Open Pave tire in just 207 miles, this is the answer.
I had originally planned to race tonight on my Catrike 700 as a final shakedown for the Devil Mountain Double this weekend. This morning I spent many hours cleaning, greasing, lubricating and fitting new tires to the Catrike to get it ready for DMD. The weather forecast for Dixon was for rain to start moving in around 5pm and that it may get really heavy later on. There was no way I was going to risk getting the Catrike wet and dirty so it got to spend the evening in a nice dry garage instead.
I decided to ride the Bacchetta Corsa even though I haven’t ridden it since the Mega Monster Enduro on February 11th. I have done quite a few wet races on the Corsa and it is not a bad wet racing platform so it was a natural choice. My p.b. on the Putah Creek 40k course was also set on this bike so it would be a nice comparison of my form.
If you look at my two postings of a couple of days ago you will see that I went a little mad with p.b, hill climb chasing over the weekend on the Catrike and Musashi. Unfortunately I paid dearly for these efforts and I woke up on Monday morning with a moderate flare up of my old IT band injury (I really did a number on my IT band on the 2009 Devil Mountain Double and was in so much pain that I physically couldn’t walk for 3 days until the doctor got me on some amazing drugs). I completely shut down on the training and only did light commute rides on Monday and Tuesday coupled with lots of work with a foam roller and anti inflammatory’s. I actually felt a little sore before tonight’s event but for some reason the position on the Bacchetta didn’t seem to bother my IT band at all (wonder what tomorrow morning will bring) and it wasn’t an issue at all.
The weather was actually warm and dry but the skies were very dark for the event. I felt OK on the warm up and was amazed how familiar the Bacchetta felt despite not having ridden it for so long. The wind was a troublesome crosswind again that was generally harder on the way out than it was on the return. It certainly did not feel like it was going to be an easy night. I think the weather had put lots of people off as there were not many racers at the start. The Putah Creek 40K course is two laps of an out and back 20K route. This means three 180 degree turns and 4 ninety degree turns.
My goal for the evening was to beat the hour so I knew I had to hit turn 1 at <15minutes, Turn two at <30mins and Turn 3 at <45mins to achieve that. I thought the easiest way to do that was to ensure my speed stayed above 25MPH. I set off a little fast and was winded at the first mile (I caught my 30 second rider at about the 0.75 mile point) but 25MPH+ was still looking good until I hit the bit by the Olive trees and 25MPH became a major fight. I was shocked to get passed by Kevin Metcalfe at about 4.5 miles (he set off 1m30 behind me) but it is to be expected as he is the US National Masters 40K champion. I tried my best to up my pace to keep him in sight but he was much stronger than me. At the first turn (10K) I got really badly held up when two cars going in opposite directions actually stopped next to the turn round cone to ask the CHP officer what was going on. I reckon I lost at least 15 seconds here trying to negotiate the traffic mess.
The traffic incident put fire in my belly and all thoughts about just beating the hour went out of the window, I was going for a p.b. The return leg 10k to 20k was definitely faster, although I found myself in that uncomfortable situation of finding 7th gear too low and not quite having the strength to push 8th (note to self: Get a closer ratio cassette on the Corsa for Putah creek). I made the turn in less than 30 minutes so I knew that beating the hour was still on the cards.
The 20-30k leg seemed even harder than the first time but I could push harder as I was better warmed up. I got caught by another rider at the same place Kevin caught me but he didn’t pull away so much on the way to the 30K turn. I was also passed by Greg in his Velomobile like I was stood still (amazing beast that Quest). I rounded the 30K turn with no incidents this time in <45 minutes and was determined to try to reel the guy who passed me back before the finish. Despite feeling overgeared I could see a definite speed bump whenever I selected 8th so I kept it in that gear as much as possible on the way back. I noticed the tailwind more on the run in to the finish and was between 29-32 MPH for most of the last 3 miles. The last 1k was torture and the finish line seemed like it would never come.
My time was 57m02s which was a new course personal best and I am pretty sure I would have gone sub 57m if I hadn’t had the problems at the turn. I also took the 90 degree turns very carefully tonight as I didn’t want to have a spill before DMD. Those turns are so much more fun on the trike but the Bacchetta is a better TT platform. My all time personal best for a 25 mile TT (Back in the UK) is 56m40s and I think there is a chance that I could beat that this year. As much as I find my regular time trial bike slightly faster than the Bacchetta I still enjoy riding TT’s on the Bacchetta more. It was a good night all rounf in our household as my wife also did a personal best tonight.
Sandra in full flight:
As we loaded the bikes back into the car (my Catrike wont fit in the car and we have to use the pickup instead) the forecast rain finally came and it was very heavy on the drive home. I am glad I didn’t have my poor trike in the back of the pickup bed in all that rain.
Link To Official Results.
Result: xxth – (Will be Updated when the results are published)
I found it hard to believe that the Catrike 700 was faster up the Del Valle climb so I did exactly the same ride again today on the Musashi. The weather was just about the same although it might have been a few degrees cooler today. From my seat of my lycra shorts I thought the Musashi wasn’t any quicker and the climb felt harder, but the clock doesn’t lie. The Musashi came home with a time of 9:03s which was 38 seconds quicker than the trike.
I ended up with a few Strava p.b’s for the day which was quite a suprise but the Musashi is no slouch. My favorite quote of the day when I passed some cyclists on the climb out of the park “That thing must be electric assist”
Back in March I had the insane idea to attempt the DMD on my recumbent trike. To the best of my knowledge this is a feat that has never been accomplished before and for good reason. 18,600ft plus of climbing (including Mount Hamilton, Mount Diablo and Sierra Road} and bumpy back roads often coupled with huge temperature variations make it one of the toughest double centuries in California. Just to make it even more of a challenge my training schedule for it has been almost entirely speed based with little endurance work.
In March in my blog I stated this:
On the weekend before DMD I decided to have a go at the Del Valle Climb to see if I was ready for DMD. It seems that I am not quite ready as my time was only 9m41s. This time is faster than my Musashi Personal best but a long way off my sub 9 minute goal. All is not doom and gloom however as I did the time today in roasting hot temperatures (90 degrees) and I had my disk cover on the back wheel which must have hurt my time. The trike felt fantastic and I felt really good to, so I hit the top feeling quite a happy chappy. The weather was absolutely glorious too which certainly helps.
I decided to take it easy for the rest of the ride and even took some pictures:
This is the climb back out of the Park (much steeper than it looks)
The view looking back into the park was very nice today. It was amazing how green everywhere was.
The view back down into the Livermore Valley with Mount Diablo in the distance also was very green:
The California Poppies are past there peak now but still are a welcome sight on the road.
Jobs for the remainder of the week include fitting three new tires and two new bottle cages as well as adding some more lights and reflective stickers. The new disk brake pads are nicely bedded in after this ride and were a much needed fix.
Can I do it ?
I have no idea if I can manage DMD on the trike but I am planning to attempt it like a pleasant ride in the country rather than a race. I plan to start with the 5am wave this time to maximize available time before the cut offs. I am not going to ride to rigid time schedules or a particular pace but there are two very important numbers for me:
#1: You must leave the Mines Road Rest Stop (Mile 90.9) by 1:00pm. Anyone later than this will have the option of either being Sagged forward on the course, or back to the start.
#2: All riders must depart the lunch stop (Mile 115) by 4:30pm or they will be sagged to the top of Mt. Hamilton. We will allow you to continue on the course at that point. If either cutoff is missed, you will receive a DNF for the ride, but you will have the opportunity to enjoy riding most of this absolutely wonderful course. Our primary concern is rider safety. These cutoffs are in place to prevent riders from having to descend Mt. Hamilton in the dark.
Average speeds required to make these two cutoffs are 11.4MPH for the first and 10MPH for the second. Sounds easy, but with all the climbing where my speed may be as slow as 5mph it is a concern.
I have a few major concerns on the course:
The section of road along Marsh Creek to the Morgan Territories turnoff is very dangerous for traffic so I am hoping I am not on my own on this bit.
The Morgan Territories rest stop is very unfriendly to a Catrike 700. There is about 200m of un-rideable gravel to get to the stop and I do not relish leaving my trike by the road. There is no way round needing to fill up bottles at this 50 mile marker though.
I am a bit worried about how the Catrike will handle the Cattle Grids on the backside of Hamilton. (Will I have to carry the trike across or risk damaging my idler)
Niles Canyon to Palomares Climb is one of the scariest roads ever for traffic on a trike. It is narrow and people drive like idiots. I am very concerned about this bit especially as I am likely to hit it in the dark.
The temperatures were very pleasant for this weeks Putah Creek Smackdown and my chosen steed was the Catrike 700. April is trike month for me with several time trials culminating in a rather foolish attempt to finish the Devil Mountain Double on a trike. My goal for the evening was to beat 25 minutes which was also one of my season goals.
On the warmup I was disappointed to find a particularly strong cross wind for much of the course. My best estimate of the wind direction direction is shown below. I reckon that the wind from that direction is just about the worst direction possible for this course. The best condition would be from the West so that you get a nice tailwind back.
I set off number 5 (One minute behind my wife) but had no world champions to chase this time (see PCSD#1 and PCSD#2) reports. I knew I had to average 24MPH plus to achieve my goal so I decided to ensure I kept above 24MPH no matter how hard the wind was. The wind however was very hard but I managed to keep my goal pace until around 2.5 miles (On the map the course veers slightly Southwards) where things got even harder and I saw my speed dropping off without any ability to get it back up. Fortunately I had the tailwind section around mile 4 to 5 to get my pace back but I was hurting bad. Along this section I was passed by many of the faster riders like I was stopped. The 90 degree turn at mile 3.5 was pretty gravelly and I slid quite dramatically which shook me up a bit especially as a car coming the other way was cutting the corner (I need to take more care in future).
The turn round at 5 miles went well and I pushed hard to get my speed up for the return leg but the wind again made things really hard. Fortunately the nearer the finish I got the easier the wind became and my speed slowly kept increasing all the way to the finish. The wind seemed to bizzarely change to a headwind for the last 200m and it took a huge effort to keep above 27MPH. I managed to finish in a time of 24m49 seconds which was a new personal best for the trike and my season goal. I didn’t manage to catch my wife who did a 25m20s and a course personal best too (good job Sandra!).
Comparison of my Speed vs Previous Personal Best :
Comparison of my Pulse vs Previous Personal Best:
My heartrate on PCSD#3 was an indication that I am a little fatigued or not fully recovered from Sundays event. Despite my perception that I was absolutely hammering myself, my pulse did not continue to climb normally from mile 3 and the pulse trace made it look like I wasn’t trying as hard as normal. It was rather puzzling that it did rise up to normal racing levels over the last half mile so perhaps I really wasn’t pushing hard enough.
A few years back I had thoughts of trying to do the WWRA unfaired trike hour record but after much testing I realized that I didnt have a hope of meeting the 25MPH bogey speed. Now I have cracked 24MPH over 10 miles it makes me wonder if I could crack 25MPH on Putah Creek and perhaps then think about having a go at the hour. 25MPH will be my goal for 2013. I think beating that 25MPH bogey time will probably require a considerable ammount more time and dedication to training than I have to give. I also think that I would need to find a large oval to attempt the record on. The Catrike 700 suffers from way too much speed scrub on a velodrome.
I am going to attempt the Putah Creek 40K on the trike next Wednesday and this should give me a better benchmark for my speed over an hour. In many ways riding a 40K TT 3 days before the Devil Mountain Double is an insane thing to do but I am hoping it will help me to peak. I plan on really cutting back on the volume and intensity of training for the next 6 days to allow my body to recharge it’s batteries. I think the 40K will be good final prep.
Back in the 90′s is was really into the mountain biking scene and raced regularly all over the UK in the various race series. I managed to get up to Expert Category and even competed in a couple of the world cup rounds in Scotland which was a real pain if you were not UCI ranked (or whatever body ran mountain biking back then). Non ranked riders had to compete in a race on the Saturday (one lap) just to qualify for Sunday’s suffer fest. The Aviemore course was very tough on both bikes and riders and one year we had to contend with waste deep river crossings. I never did that well on technical courses with a lot of single track but seemed to find my wings on the more open course especially when the weather was at it’s worst. I don’t know how I managed to race with no suspension back then but somehow I managed it.
When I moved to California in 97 I pretty much gave up on mountain bike racing although I still mountain biked for fun and training. I did try one race, the Sea Otter, which was a complete farce and that put me off Mountain bike racing until now. I would say that 95% of my Mountain Biking is on dusty local fire roads or on the dusty levee trails. I do get some single track riding in at Brushy Peak and Del Valle but it is not very technical.
For the Napa race I was a little concerned at my lack of single track practice but I was hoping to open up a big enough gap on the fire roads and climbs to not get in too many people’s way on the descents. It turned out that almost the entire race was twisting single track over gnarly tree roots and muddy bogs ( I was way outside my comfort zone).
When I got to the start it was quite foggy but the temperature was just about perfect for MTB racing. My 90′s vintage Specialized S -Works hard tail (see picture above) looked very out of place next to the sea of exotic carbon bikes with disk brakes and fancy suspension. It may not go down hills fast but it can climb like a goat. Looking around at the other riders in my race they all seemed to be seasoned MTB veterans and I felt like a complete outsider. I suddenly had no thoughts of getting a high placing .
Back in the old days when I raced MTB’s I always put a lot of effort to make a good start as it was important to be out of traffic when you hit the single track sections. For this event I just planned to ease my way back into the groove and hopefully put in a huge effort on the last 3 mile climb before the finish. Once the race started I ended up mid pack but got caught up with the excitement of the race and my initial plan to take it easy at the start went out of the window after the hike and bike section. I had completely forgotten how much it hurts to carry your bike up a slippery slope.
The race itself settled into an endless snake of awesome single track trail with a pattern of me pulling away on the up hills and getting caught on the downs. I have never ridden such a long section of wooded single track in my life. Most of it was ride-able but there were a few sections where you had to hike with your bike which was very tiring. Every now and then a small stream or huge puddle would appear magically on the path just to keep you on your toes. The course demanded 100% concentration and there were almost no fire road sections where you could have a mental rest.
On one particularly scary downhill I lost my chain and it jammed solid and I had the depressing sight of countless people passing me while I fixed it. Other than this mishap, the old bike was running okay but as the race progressed my front shifter started to get a little bit troublesome and my small block tires were not really very good on the muddy stuff. I really struggled on one particularly long muddy bit and lost a few places but I think some of it was the rider more than the tires. I haven’t ridden on proper mud for about 15 years
I thought the final climb would never come and when it did I was disappointed to see that it was very steep and quite technical. There were long sections where pushing or carrying your bike was the only option if you lost momentum on a root or where another rider fell. It was an absolute slog and I had to walk many sections, but near the top I put my plan into action and upped the pace to overtake quite a few riders. Some of the sections I had to ride on the middle ring as my front shifter had started to refuse to shift to the grannie. Although this helped my speed it did put a lot of strain on an already tired body.
Once the final hill was crested I got in a small group with a lady and one guy from my race. I managed to hang on to them on most of the down hills as they were not so technical. The male rider made a wrong turn and this allowed me to get past him although he didn’t lose much time. I kept on the middle ring for the next section of single track behind the lady and kept my fingers crossed for some fast trails before the finish.
There was some pretty muddy fire road a couple of miles before the finish with a headwind so I went to the front and used this to my advantage and caught 3 more riders. One racer from my event was with me however and I could see I was holding him up on the final very technical descent before the finish and so I allowed him to pass. Rather naively I thought I would bring him back at the end so I went mad to try to catch him before the finish but the numerous mud holes and bogs prevented me from closing the gap. He was also really strong so catching him was not really on the cards. I ended up finishing in 12th place (27 finishers) in a time of 02:00:57. I was tired and muddy but happy to have got round in one piece.
The Napa Valley Dirt Classic had an amazing course that would be huge fun outside of a race but it was just a little much for me with my lack of experience of such single track. It really deserves the “Classic” title. I don’t think I will ride any more mountain bike events in the near future as I just don’t have the ability to train on the kind of trails required to become skillful enough not to scare myself silly on the descents but you never know……..
My S-Works didn’t look quite so shiny after the race.
I had very muddy Legs and soggy shoes at the end:
Don’t suppose my racing vest will ever get clean. Must join a team with dark colors next
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