Avon to Glenwood Springs and Back

When we drove to Avon after I had gotten caught in the snow Friday morning, we were in and out of snowstorms and at times it was snowing hard. In Avon it was cool but partly cloudy. Saturday morning was cold but sunny. Late morning I headed off to Glenwood Springs. The first 30 some miles were on back roads following the Eagle River down river until it joins the Colorado River just before Glenwood Canyon.


Once I got to Glenwood Canyon I took the bike path. I think the trail gets pretty crowded in the summer but when I've ridden it in May it hasn't been bad except around the trailhead to Hanging Lake. The ride though the canyon is very scenic and worth doing sometime if you're in the area. Even though you are right below and sometimes under I-70, you don't really hear much traffic noise. Since it follows the Colorado River, it was all down hill to Glenwood Springs.


I met Julie, the kids, and my aunt and uncle in Glenwood Springs for a late lunch. I rode a little around town and then headed back uphill to Avon. I ended up with 118 miles with only 3146 feet of climbing and an average speed of 16.3 mph. My bike computer wasn't working for the first part of the ride. It seems all the ice build up from Friday's ride allowed a little water to get into the wireless transmitter. I had to take the battery out and ride with battery compartment open for a little over 7 miles and then it worked when I put it back together. On the elevation profile there's a red flag near the end of the ride marking where it started working.

Bailed on Ride to Avon

I got up early this morning to get ready to ride to Avon. Taking some back roads it is just over a 190 miles over 4 passes. It was very cloudy but dry. I checked radar and forecasts for points along the way. It actually looked like the worst was going to be on the front range. Radar showed precipitation to the south but nothing to the west. It looked like it could be upslope conditions.

I decided to go ahead and take my chances and rolled out the door just after 5:00. I thought maybe I'd get lucky and climb above the clouds by Woodland Park but instead I was riding in snow. I continued on to Divide about 30 miles and 3,000 feet higher than my house and it was still snowing. The road was warm enough that the snow was melting but the spray was freezing on my bike. Parts of my bike had about 1/4 inch of ice on it. Beyond there I'd be in an area where there's hardly anywhere to stop and even cell coverage is spotty because of taking country roads instead of staying on US 24. I called Julie and told her I'd start back and she'd come to pick me up. Since I had been climbing for 2 hours, I was nice and warm. Once I started back downhill, it didn't take me long to realize I'd be hypothermic before long and decided to hang out in the convenience store in Divide. When we got home it was still dry.

I checked the radar when I got home and it looked like I would have gotten out of the worst of it after a few hours but I don't know if I would have been functioning by then. At 11 AM it was 52 degrees in Avon. The forecast looks good there tomorrow but not here. We're meeting my aunt and uncle there tonight so we'll go ahead and go. I should be able to get in a good ride there tomorrow and then it looks like the weather shouldn't be too bad for me to ride home on Sunday.

Last Weekend's Rides

Last weekend was warmer than normal just like most of the rest of this month. I wish that would be the case this weekend since I'm taking tomorrow off work to ride to Avon. Unfortunately the forecast is for snow tonight. I'm most worried about going through Leadville and over Tennessee Pass. It's pretty much never warm there this time of year and if the weather's bad it can be ugly. In fact in can be cold there the middle of the summer. If the weather cooperates I should get in about 500 miles in the next 3 days.


Last Saturday I went up in to the mountains and did a fair amount of climbing. I felt good although I tried not to ride too hard since I was supposed to go hard on Sunday. The temperature was comfortable up at 9,000 feet and it felt hot when I dropped back down into town. I got in 108 miles with 6280 feet of climbing and averaged 15.7 mph.


Sunday I joined up with the 10:00 Acacia Park group ride. The fastest guys where apparently in Boulder doing a training race but we still had a good, strong group. When the pace got a bit harder, my legs felt tired and I was worried I would get dropped. It didn't take long for my legs to clear out and I ended up helping drive the lead group. At the bomber sprint, I easily jumped clear of the group. On the climb I stayed at the front but new the top a few riders that weighed a lot less than me surged and I couldn't quite hold on. As soon as we got over the top, I was able to get back on and hammer the flat section before the climb to where we regroup to go through the guard shack. I was able to drop all but one rider going up the hill and then dropped him near the top. Once the group headed back into town, I headed up to Palmer Lake and went across the Palmer Divide out on to the prairies. Coming back into town I got good practice working into a strong headwind. I got in 114 miles with 4705 feet of climbing and averaged 16 mph.

Surgery

On Monday I had surgery to remove a lipoma on my forearm. It was just done in the doctor's office with a local anesthetic. I had debated about having it done for a couple weeks because there's always the chance of infection and with RAAM less than 7 weeks away I don't want anything to go wrong. I probably wouldn't have done it except that I had a much larger one removed last year that was a bit complicated to get out and it wasn't sore more than a couple days.

It was very small compared to several others that I have but it's right at the edge of the armrest of my aero bars and has been red and sore after long rides. I figured that I'd get a couple days into RAAM and it would be too sore to use my aero bars. I've been going to Strode Family Practice for over 10 years. I used to see Dr. Strode and really liked him but it started getting hard to get appointments with him. When I needed to get in once they said they could get me in right away with Dr. Carter who was a new doctor with the practice. He's about my age and has been very active outdoors and although he still thinks I'm a bit crazy he understands what I do. He always tries treating me so that I can continue training. When he stitched up my arm, he did it so that it could take some abuse so I wouldn't have to worry about it while riding.

Monday night I woke up a couple times because I was putting pressure on it. Yesterday I rode on the bike path and barely felt it. Today I went mountain biking and could hardly feel it. Yesterday I got a pneumonia vaccine and I felt it a lot more when I was riding than I did where the lipoma was removed.

New Bike Passes Test

After a few weeks of dialing my new bike in, last weekend I felt it was time to test it on a long ride. Saturday I rode 108 miles and felt fine so I went out on it again Sunday and put in 114 miles. On my old bike after a 100 miles I wouldn't actually be sore from the saddle but I'd find myself standing up more to relieve the pressure. I didn't realize it until after Sunday's ride, but on my new bike I was just as comfortable on the saddle after 100 miles as I was at the beginning. I have the same model of Flite Gel Saddle and saddle pad as my old bike but without all the miles to break the saddle in.

One thing that I changed with my new bike was the aero bars. For the last 5 years I've been using the Profile Design AirStryke Aero Bar. I've never felt very comfortable in them. The two sides are connected and the angle of the connecting piece made it feel like I was rotating my wrists in. Also the armrest cups always felt too flexible to the point of feeling like my arms were going to roll off the edge. They also had three screw holes to adjust the width of the armrests. It felt like I needed to be halfway in between two of the holes. The thing I liked about them was the fact that the armrests fold up giving full access to the tops of the bars. The downside was that the hinges always rattled. Joe Gross wrote an article on how to stop the rattling but I never tried it. The springs would eventually break and I was about 100 miles into the Race Across Oregon when a spring broke. I had to ride over 400 miles with lots of climbing where the armrest rested on the back of my hand when I used the top of the bar. It didn't take long of that to create a sore. Over time the pins that are part of the hinge would also work loose.

At this point I don't want to change anything that works but I figured since I was having trouble staying in the aero bars because I wasn't comfortable, I didn't have much to lose in trying something new. I went with the Syntace C2 Clip aero bar because they have a 1 inch lifter to allow access to the top of the bar and be more comfortable for long distances because of not being so bent over. I have my handle bars lower than I think most ultra riders do. I couldn't get it quite as low on my new bike with a -6 degree stem but the top of them is still a little over 1.5 inches lower than the saddle. Maybe if I got a -10 degree stem, I'd end up the same as on my old bike. It turned out because they use an adapter for 31.8 bars that I couldn't use the lifter but the adapter raises the armrests just enough I can still get to the top of the bar. Now I'm going to put a the Syntace C2 Clip aero bar on my old bike and since it has 25.8 bars I'll use the lifter kit on it. Another advantage of the Syntace bar is it's 174 grams lighter. I don't stress over a few grams but 174 is a fairly big difference.

The good news is I found myself dropping into the aero bars any time I wasn't on steeper climbs. Even on moderate climbs I was comfortable and felt I could get good power which I couldn't on my old aero bars. On Monday my back muscles were a little sore. It wasn't a bad sore but was because I was pulling harder on the bars since I felt good in the position. Now I have about 6 weeks to strengthen my back muscles.

Juré Robic Signs Up For RAAM Enduro Category

Juré Robic is finally on the roster for RAAM. I really thought he'd be doing the Traditional Category but he's listed in the Enduro. This makes it 17 men in the Enduro and 11 men in the Traditional plus a recumbent.

New Bike

The road bike I've been riding for nearly 5 years is a steel Tommasini Sintesi. It has been a great bike and I've qualified for RAAM 4 times on it. For RAAM I wanted to have a bike with a triple on it for the steep hills when I'm exhausted.

Last fall I did research and talked to some riders and concluded that I wanted a Specialized Roubaix. It is a full carbon frame with inserts that they call Zertz. The Zertz help to dampen vibrations. First I tried getting on the Specialized grass root program which I have been on in the past. Part of the program is really good discounts on their bikes. Due to some miscommunication with the shop I went through, I didn't find out until pretty late that for this year Specialized is only accepting teams to the program instead of individuals. I then tried getting a good deal through the shop that sponsors Pikes Peak Velo. They really wouldn't do much for me so I called Paul at Team Telecycle. Paul is a great guy and I used to mountain bike race with him back in the early 90's. He gave me a great deal on last year's Roubaix Elite Triple. I really would have liked the Comp Triple which is the same frame but with some better components but Specialized didn't have any left in my size. Paul is also helping me out with some other things that I need for RAAM so a big thanks to him.

I got the bike a few weeks ago but the longest ride I've done so far has been a little over 4 hours. Tomorrow I plan to put in 8 hours since I've now gotten pretty much everything dialed in so it fits just like my old bike. As much as I love a new bike I also don't like it because it seems to always take a month before I get it to feel just right. I keep rotating the bar slightly and turning the brake hoods a little, etc. I finally got the aero bars on last night so I'm sure I have some more tweaking to do on them. I rode the lunch time training race on Wednesday and felt very comfortable on the bike and also fast. I finished 3rd out of about a dozen riders so I'm getting some speed and climbing well on it.

Probably the biggest thing I've noticed about it is how stiff it is. I hadn't realized how flexed out my Tommasini. I have over 25,000 miles on it and I tend to gear mash which probably hasn't helped it. It's amazing how fast my new bike accelerates when I get out of the saddle and I don't feel the bottom bracket flexing. The Roubaix has the same bottom bracket design as the Tarmac which is their USCF racing type bike. The bottom bracket stiffness is also very noticeable when I'm climbing hard. It's also noticeable how it feel when going over bumps. I feel the bump but then it more like a thud and no more vibration. I'm not sure how much of it is due to the carbon fiber and how much is due to the Zertz but I think it'll make a big difference on long rides.

Taxing Week

With all my training, I hadn't gotten my taxes done even though I had done enough to know I was getting a refund. Thanks to the ability to e-file I managed to get them submitted Monday night with 30 minutes to spare.

I didn't do much riding over the weekend since I'm doing a low volume week but with high intensity. I was going to do my hard ride on Saturday but when I got up the wind was gusting 40-50 mph and my allergies were bothering me. Also with the wind, I didn't think I'd be able mentally to push myself as hard as I needed . Instead I did it on Sunday which ended up being a very nice day. I rode up to Woodland Park which is about a 2,000 foot climb and did some Low LT intervals. Then I came back down and did the climb to Cave of the Winds 6 times. I was on my new bike (more on that in another post) and don't have my cyclo computer mount on it yet so I'm not sure exactly how far it is or how much vertical it is. I'm sure I have a file around somewhere but my guess is it's about 0.7 mile and according to Google Earth it's about a 400 foot climb. It's hard to tell from the Google Earth image but the steepest parts are right after it straightens after the switchbacks and on the left fork of the road at the top. I think it at least has to be in the 20% grade range. I was going hard on the lower section and then recovering a little between the steepest sections and then going all out on the top part. The first 5 times up I was consistently around 7 minutes and 45 seconds and felt like I was about to puke at the top. The last time up I dialed it back a little and did it in just over 8 minutes and didn't feel so bad at the top.

How I Use Hammer Nutrition and E-CAPS Products

Since Al asked about my take on Hammer Nutrition products, I thought I'd write a post rather than just add a comment because I have a lot to say about their products. I'm sponsored by them although it's a discount, not cash or free product, so if I didn't like their products it wouldn't do me any good. If you've never ordered from them before, you can get 15% off your first order by following this link. They have a Yahoo group where even the owner will answer questions. Steve Born that has finished RAAM more than once and done things like start at the finish line of the Furnace Creek 508 and ride to the start to do the race has been a big help for me to get my nutrition dialed in for long races. Last year I was really out of shape for the Adirondack 540 and I had to call him the day before the race to be convinced I could do the race.

The best way to explain my take on the products is to tell my experience when I first did Montezuma's Revenge in 1998. It was my second 24 hour mountain bike race but I was sick when I first did the 24 Hours of Moab and spent 7 hours of the bike but was so congested I couldn't lie down without starting to choke.

I had tried Sustained Energy during training but had trouble with bloating and gas so I had given up on it. I now know that because it doesn't have any preservatives it goes bad in about 3 hours in the hot sun and that is what was causing my problems. They actually say it should last a little longer but 3 hours has been my experience. I ended up solving that problem by mixing my 2nd bottle the night before and freezing it. That was back before they had Perpetuem and HEED which take a lot longer to go bad. I had gone back to using CytoMax and GU. I got about 8 hours into Montezuma's Revenge and got so sick to my stomach I didn't feel like eating plus I was peeing like crazy but at the same time feeling really dehydrated. I got up on Gray's Peak above 13,000 feet and was stumbling and falling asleep as I tried hiking with my bike on my back.

After that miserable race, I decided to give Sustained Energy another try along with some Hammer Gel. I used them at the 24 Hours of Moab along with solid food and did much better although still had some stomach problems. Dr. Bill that has had a huge part in developing the Hammer Nutrition products finally convinced me that for 24 hours I was best off without solid foods. The first time I tried without solid food I had plenty of solid foods available and ended up not using any and didn't have any stomach problems. I now pretty much just use their products except I've eaten a small amount of solid foods in my RAAM qualifiers. When I did the Furnace Creek 508 in 2002, I had 36 servings of Sustained Energy and less than a 1,000 calories from other foods.

Now they have more choices in fuels and I mix them depending on what I'm doing. For short, hard group rides I use HEED and some Hammer Gel. When they first came out with HEED, they just had the Lemon-Lime flavor and I didn't like it but I've come to really like the Mandarin Orange. For 2-3 hour mountain bike races, I use Sustained Energy with a couple scoops of the powdered Endurolytes added in plus I use a coin purse to carry more Endurolytes. For 100 mile mountain bike races I mix Sustained Energy and Perpetuem half and half along with some powdered Endurolytes. When I'm going hard I seem to have some problems digesting straight Perpetuem and that's why I mix it with the Sustained Energy. In 24 hour mountain bike events and RAAM qualifiers I use mainly Perpetuem but use a little of the other fuels for variety. I always have plain water with me so I can drink what I need independent of the calories I'm getting plus it helps to not have any taste in my mouth. Even under ideal conditions, I have trouble digesting much over 250 calories and hour and try not to go over 28 ounces of fluid an hour. Eating or drinking stuff with simple sugars while using the Hammer fuels is a sure way to bonk. I found this out the hard way doing the Vail Ultra 100. Julie offered a couple bite sized Snickers bars at one of the aid stations and within 20 minutes I was severely bonking and sat at the next aid station for an hour wrapped in blankets and shivering.

If I'm doing an early morning race, I sleep as late as possible and don't eat anything until I'm on the bike. The first few times I didn't eat before I felt really hungry and thought for sure I'd bonk but my stomach felt better early in the race than if I had eaten and I didn't bonk. I do find I have to start eating sooner but my stomach feels fine. If I ate too close to the start, I'd find my stomach didn't feel the best and it would be an hour or so before I could start eating.

Lately on my long training rides I've been mixing one bottle with 4 scoops HEED and 2 scoops plain Perpetuem and another bottle with 1 scoop HEED and 5 scoops Dreamsicle Perpetuem and 3 scoops powdered Endurolytes in each bottle. For performance I'd probably be better off using more Perpetuem but I like the variety of flavors.

For races and rides under 3 hours, I take 1 Race Cap Supreme, 1 Mito-R-Cap, and 4 Anti-Fatigue Caps an hour before the start and then just Endurolytes during the race or ride. I longer races and rides I take the same thing before the start and then starting 2 hours in I take the same thing every hour except drop the Anti-Fatigue Caps to 2 and take 2-3 Endurolytes. I always have more Endurolytes so I can take more if I need them to keep from cramping. The Anti-Fatigue Caps really help keep me from smelling like ammonia. Before I started using them I used to stink of ammonia by the time I'd get 6 hours into a race. For during races and rides, I use the little baggies to but in an hour worth of pills so I can just grab one out of my pocket and dump everything into my month. I can really tell I don't fatigue as fast and recover faster if I take the supplements. During training I generally open the bag and squeeze from the sides on the zip section to open it wide so I can reuse it but during races I generally tear the top off. If I have a crew with me, I use empty canisters that film come in and have them hand it to me. Now that I'm using a digital camera I have to make sure I don't lose the ones I have.

After hard rides, I generally have 2 or 3 scoops of Recoverite and then a little while later I mix a bottle of 2 scoops of Recoverite and 1 of Whey Protein. I also take Super AO and Tissue Rejuvenator.

Update: See what I did for nutrition during my 2006 solo RAAM attempt.

Technorati Tags: sports nutrition | cycling | mountain biking | training | Hammer Nutrition

Tinker Wins Heart of the South

Thanks to JB for the heads up on Tinker's report on winning the Heart of the South 500. He came within 10 minutes of Chris MacDonald's record last year. Chris finished 2nd at RAAM last year in his rookie year. I've always admired Tinker's toughness on the mountain bike circuit and would really like him to do well at RAAM.

Weird Thought

With all the riding I did over the weekend, I had time to zone out and let my mind wander. I think it was on Sunday on my way back from Guffey I started wondering whether I'd be really tan on my right side but not my left by the end of RAAM. If I spend 12 days riding generally east, the amount of sunlight each side of my body gets has to be considerably different. I think the reason I started thinking about it is that Sunday was our first really warm day.

Today it felt like summer. Normally April is our 2nd snowiest month of the year but it's been warm and dry so far. I already have a pretty weird tan line from a little gap between my glove and my ID and medical info bracelet from RoadID. I've said it before but I'm going to say it again. It's a dangerous world out there and you really should have some kind of ID and info on you when you're out riding, running, or whatever. It was really brought home recently when a friend had a really scary close call on a section of road that seems relatively safe.

I finally added a link to the Pikes Peak Cam so you can see the mountain that I can see the majority of the time I'm riding. I ride by the building the cam is on all the time. The only thing that would make the view better would be if it were at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center so you could see the red rocks in the foreground. I also have added a graphic of the local weather conditions above the links. I also added a countdown to the start of RAAM both in the header and on the right.

464 Miles in Three Days

As planned I headed into the mountain on Sunday. The temperature was well above normal and I started in short sleeves and pretty quickly pulled my knee warmers off. When I got to Woodland Park at a little over 8,000 feet I did put them back on for a little while but then took them off and never had to put them back on. I rode to Guffey and back taking some county roads. There's very little traffic and the scenery is great.

Dropping into Guffey is always fun although I had a headwind so I only hit 52 mph. I've hit 60 mph on the hill before. The only bad part about it is coming back up the climb. It's not that long so it isn't too bad but it does hurt. I stopped and had a Coke on the patio of the bar in town. It's a cool, little mountain town that for the most part seems to be stuck a couple decades ago.

As always the ride back was fun as it's a lot more downhill than up. I did a little loop through the Garden of the Gods and hills on the west side of town before heading home. I ended up with 133 miles with 8983 feet of climbing and an on bike average of 15.4 mph.



Monday was the day to head out to the east where it is flat and boring. Even though I'm not a great climber, I still rather go into the mountains than ride out on the plains. The forecast was for it to be windy with it increasing in the afternoon. That definitely is not good news for riding out in the grasslands where there's nothing to stop the wind.

I had a good tailwind on the way out and averaged 21 mph for the 78 miles to Limon. When I turned around, the wind was strong but wasn't terrible. About 30 miles later though, I was struggling to keep my speed at 8 mph on the flat. At one point I even went down under a bridge few a couple minutes just to get the wind noise out of my ears. My mouth kept drying out so I was drinking quite a bit. I heard on the news after I got back that the humidity had dropped below 5%! I was going so slow I ended up running out of water but had some concentrated HEED and Perpetuem to sip on.

I knew that once I got to Calhan I'd have 8 miles of cross-wind so I figured I could speed up and get a little break but was worried that I still might not make it back by dark. Peyton is where the road curves and would be straight in to the wind. When I got there the flags were still blowing pretty hard straight at me but weren't making snapping sounds and shaking the flag poles. I actually was able to hold a pretty decent pace. Once I got into town there wasn't much wind and I got home just as it got dark. It took just under 4 hours to get to Limon and over 7 hours to get back. Limon is only 800 feet lower so most of the speed difference was from the wind.

I got in 159 miles with only 3901 feet of climbing which is about as flat as it gets around here. My on bike average was 15.6 mph.

Updates to RAAM roster

It looks like another 4 solo men have signed up for RAAM. All of them are doing the Traditional category and it appears one rider has switched from the Enduro category to the Traditional category. This puts 13 in the Enduro category and 12 in the Traditional category. According to a post to the raam group by Jim Pitre, the race director, 5 other solo riders are planning to race but haven't yet signed up.

Long Ride to Top of Hardscrabble Pass and Back

I rode a little this morning and then met up with a fairly large group of Pikes Peak Velo teammates. It was 26 degrees when I rolled out which isn't that bad but the forecast was for it to hit the mid-60s so I underdressed a bit so I wouldn't have too much stuff too carry. My legs were still complaining about my interval workout on Thursday. My friend Larry that is training for the Leadville Trail 100 Leadman competition also was along and continued on with me when everyone else turned around in Penrose around mile 30 for them. He finished all but the Silver Rush last year and that was because he had to go to Germany.

Larry and I were actually planning of going all the way to Westcliffe but got worried we might not be back by dark. I think we would have been but better to be safe. I always forget how long the Hardscrabble Pass climb is. In the middle there is a 2 mile section at 8% grade. I felt great until it got steep but then started looking for a missing gear. The rewarding thing about climbing Hardscrabble is you get an awesome view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains when you get near the top. I had debated about taking the camera but didn't. I wished I had because the mountains had fresh snow from yesterday's storm system. They were so pretty! They include the fourteeners Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, Kit Carson, and Humboldt.

I got in 172 miles with 10,220 feet of climbing with an on bike average speed of 16.7 mph. Tomorrow's ride will be a little shorter but still long with lots of climbing. I took Monday off work and plan to do a long, flat ride to work on staying in the aerobars more.

Syntace C3 Clip On Aerobars Price: $185.00

Syntace SLS Clip On Aerobars Price: $155.55

Syntace XXS Clip On Aerobars Price: $133.33

Technorati Tags: century ride | colorado | cycling

Granny Gear 24 Hour Race National Point Series

Granny Gear has announced a 24 Hour Race National Point Series. It's a series made up of 6 of Granny Gear's 24 hour races. The best 3 results count for the series. Part of the deal is the entry fee goes down for each additional race you do. I really think their entry fees are overpriced for what they provide. I've only done their 24 Hours of Moab but I've done that 4 times solo. Although some of the 24 Hours of Adrenalin events are about the same. I really wonder though how many teams are out there that do 3 events. They riders I know that do the 24 Hours of Moab are doing shorter NORBA races the rest of the year and Moab just an end of the season thing.

Another new long distance MTB series this year is the National MTB Ultra Endurance Series. It's a series of 6 100 mile races with 4 races counting for the series. It's good to see more and more choices in long distance MTB races. Once I get RAAM out of my system, I plan to go back to doing long MTB races. I think the growth of long MTB races is in part because the NORBA races have gotten so short and on such fast courses instead of the epic courses that were common back in the early 90s when mountain biking was new.

Ouch!

After spending 9 hours in a meeting today, I left before it was over so I could get an interval workout in. It was really hard to get motivated since I was pretty brain dead. Soon after I started riding, it sleeted for a few minutes but didn't last long. After getting warmed up, I didn't feel too bad and started up Rossmere Street. This is a street that there's no such thing as riding it easy. It goes straight up and hurts no matter how fit I am. I think it's about 6 minutes to the top and I was only doing 4 minute intervals so I just turned around and went back down and spun for a few minutes before heading back up. I was really hurting the last time up although I still made it the same distance up the hill. I got in 1700 feet of climbing in just over an hour of riding. I hate this kind of workout but it's the best way to get faster.

Training Race

Yesterday was the first Wednesday lunch time training race of the year. It's pretty informal and everyone just shows up at noon at a spot. We ride to the top of the hill and the race starts. We do 3 laps and the finish line is where the pavement changes from a lighter color to a darker color at the top of the hill. There was a turn out of 9 riders which is good considering it was the first week. Too many more than that and it gets a little scary on open streets.

I felt good each time up the climb and rode well compared to the other riders. The last time up the hill 2 guys were off the front but not by too far. I was in a group of 4 and picked up the pace to see how many I could drop. I figured at least 1 or 2 would hang and it turned out 2 did. I attacked near the top and dropped one guy but the other guy counter attacked and I couldn't respond. I was happy with my 4th place. The race took me 37 minutes and 33 seconds with an average heart rate of 170 and a max of 194.

RAAM Roster Now Broken Out Between Enduro and Traditional

The men's RAAM roster is now split into the Enduro and Traditional categories. There are 14 in the Enduro category and only 7 in the Traditional category. I really thought that there would be more big names in the Traditional category but most of them are in the Enduro. Allen Larsen said something to me at Hell Week that he might change to the Enduro category if he felt he wouldn't have competition in the Traditional category. Even though I'm excited about the Enduro rules, I'd really like to see everyone switch so it really isn't 2 separate races.

Good Weekend of Training

Saturday I meet up with about a dozen other guys from Pikes Peak Velo for a fast paced ride out to Elbert. I got Bob and Brad to continue on with me to Kiowa and then across to Franktown and Castle Rock and then back 105 through Palmer Lake. We had started by going out to Peyton instead of taking the direct route to Elbert which I think ended up adding about 10 more miles than what I had thought the ride would be. We kept a good pace until we had to slow a little on 105 because Brad was starting to hurt. The other 2 stopped at Bob's house north of town and got about 120 miles in. I went on through Garden of the Gods and Manitou before I headed home. I ended up with 143 miles with 6499 feet of climbing and on bike average speed of 18.3 mph.

Sunday I only did 42 miles but it was with the 10:00 Acacia Park group ride so it was hard. I had taken a pull and dropped to mid-pack in the Air Force Academy when I realized the group in front of me had totally blown apart. I put in a long, hard pull with a couple guys on my wheel and we picked up another few guys that had blown out of the groups in front of us. When I dropped to the back of the group, I had used too much and barely was able to hang on. We caught the 2nd group but weren't able to pull the lead group of 5 or 6 back. I was very happy to be with the group I was in since I was mid-pack when things broke up. After the climb up to the back side, the guards wouldn't let us through because 2 of the guys with military IDs had disappeared along with several other riders. We still had a group of about 20 and they only wanted to let 9 guys in with the one military ID we had. We then tried getting back in on Stadium but the guards there said the same thing. We went out North Gate and I managed to hang with the lead group back in to town execpt when 2 guys broke away but nobody else could go with them either. We caught them at a traffic light.

This week I'm stuck in meetings from 9 to 5 every day so I can't get out for my normal lunch rides. I'm also being fed food that I'm sure has way more calories than I should have. I guess I should take my own lunch in so I can eat healthier.

Weight Loss

I like to eat and unless I'm riding a lot I end up gaining weight. Even if I'm riding a lot, I have to be careful. I think part of it is genetic. It's frustrating to see how much some other people can eat and not gain weight. I'm on medication for hypothyroidism and so are both of my parents and my sister. I think another problem is I get used to eating quite a bit when I'm riding a lot and when I have an easy week or take a couple months to remodel my house, I keep on eating as though I'm riding 10 or more hours a week.

The only way I've been able to consistently lose weight has been to count calories. The more accurate the better but studies have shown that just the act of keeping track of what you eat helps you get back on what you eat. I've been using DietPower to do it. At first it took a little while to log everything but now I have it so I can log everything for a day in about 5 minutes. Although DietPower has a lot of foods in its database including brand name foods, I still had to enter some of my common things such as all the Hammer Nutrition/E-caps fuels and supplements that I use.

With DietPower you set your weight goal for a certain date and it calculates your calorie budget for each day. It also works if you want to gain weight. It starts out with a metabolic rate calculated from your current weight. It can then calculate a more accurate rate based on how much you eat, calories burned in exercise, and how your weight changes. A pound of weight is equal to 3500 calories. It took a little tweaking to get the number of calories burned per hour on the bike right. When I didn't have it right, I'd see a big swing in my metabolic rate after doing some extra long rides since DietPower assumes any calories not accounted for from eating, exercising, or weight change is from your metabolic rate. DietPower also allows you to check what popular diet plan you are using such as Weight Watchers, South Beach, Zone, Slim-fast, eDiets and more. It uses that to give suggestions on how to improve your diet but I haven't used that feature so I'm not sure exactly how it works.

My weight peaked out at 197 in December. Saturday morning I weighed in at 179 and after my hard 143 mile ride on Saturday, I weighed in at 178 on Sunday morning. Saturday was the official weigh in day for B5 Challenge. I did Ok for the month but would have been better if I hadn't had so much trouble cutting my calories after Hell Week. I got used to eating 6,000 plus calories a day and it was hard to cut back to where I needed to. You can see a nice spike in my weight in March from it. A month ago I was leading the pack in the B5 Challenge. In a few days, last month's results should be posted and I'll see where I am. The thing I really care about is it motivating me to keep losing the weight. I really don't want to go below the low 170s before RAAM since I'll need some reserves for that.