So the Race Across the West (RAW) has 15 stages over 860 miles. All but two stages are around 50 miles each. If you took the road from one stage to the next stage, pulled it out straight and tilted it up to equal the change in elevation you'd get an `average percentage grade incline.'
Following me so far?
This average percentage grade incline includeS the uppy downy changes in between point A and point B, except that it `smoothes' them out. That is, for example, Stage 1 would be 2.12% grade up for 54.6 miles, Stage 2 would be .68% incline up for 88.6 miles, etc.... Of course, in between point A and point B there might be a few stretches of 4% up and 2% down.
Fuggedaboudit!!!
I went to the `navel' academy. That is, like, in `belly-button' navel. Meaning, I find as much meaning in twirling a loop of my hair with my finger while I'm picking my teeth with a ballpoint pen, digging the wax from my ears out with a paperclip and reaching halfway to my sinus cavity to liberate the latest booger, as I stare blankly at the universal `nothing' in my field of vision --- as I do in fighting for world peace.
Alfred E Neuman and J. Alfred Prufrock are my closet heroes.
So --- are you staying with me, reader? --- what I did was ... I did this.
I did the entire RAW route, stage by stage, in average grade inclines.
Then I programmed each stage into the Computrainer.
Starting today I'm going to do every stage of RAW on the C'trainer according to this chart.
Here's the advantage.
First, the C'trainer doesn't have intersections. And it doesn't have weather, altitude, traffic or guys in pickups with rifle racks throwing beer cans at me. No sunlight. No sound. A breeding ground for delusions, hallucinations, messages from Mars, and direct communication from God about the meaning of life.
Second, by programming each stage to have a set grade incline (e.g., stage 7, Prescott, 2.25% upgrade for 50.2 miles I will climb a total of 6,000 feet) I don't have to do any gear shifting. That means I can get some sleep while on my basement trainer.
Third, there are no declines, or downgrades, allowing me to coast. This means that I can achieve the primary goal of indoor training, i.e., exquisite boredom laced with lethal doses of torture, agony and psychological misery.
I'm starting today.
HAH!! You probably think I'm kidding.
- Dan