Sloppy Training Tips for Disorganized Mortals

Sloppy.  And far from `correct.’  But I’m pretty happy with today’s `training for disorganized mortals.’ 

Two weeks from tomorrow (Sunday, Sep 15) a local annual cycling event will take place.  The Skull Valley Loop Challenge.  Fifty-four miles of climbing and descending (about 4,500 feet).  Drop dead gorgeous mountain terrain in Arizona’s Central Highlands.  Screaming descents (-3% -11%) on glass smooth roads for more than a dozen miles (video of me doing one of the long descents).  Demanding, non-stop ascents (+3 +9%) for more than 9 miles.  Miles and miles of rollers.  And more than 10 miles of rapid ascending and descending, sharp-angle mountain cliffside switchbacks.   Words just can’t describe this course. 

I live less than a mile from the start and end points of this event (SVLC Route).  I train on some or all of this course all year long.  I never tire of the almost overpowering majesty and beauty of the terrain.  I’ve studied the geology (`rotten granite,’ `1.8 billion year old gneiss,’ `rhyolite lava flows from massive tectonic separations’).  Scrub brush desert to Prescott Pinon forest ranges.  Monsoon rains and lightning.  Intense, body killing solar radiation and heat at high altitude. 

Today I did the Skull Valley Loop clockwise, i.e., in the opposite direction (SVL clockwise today).  It’s actually much harder to do the `loop’ clockwise.  The last half of the route is unremittingly and increasingly steep.  It just grinds and grinds. 

Train heavy.  Race lite. 

When I train I carry 100 oz of water and `food,’ an extra tire, 4 tubes, tools, food, clothes for 3 seasons.  Probably as much as 25 – 30 lbs of stuff.   Given the rapid uppy-downy nature of the terrain I have an uncommon gearing setup (even for a recumbent).  A 58/42 double upfront.  And a ten speed 11/36 cassette in back.  The 58/11 combination allows me to maintain power (and speed at approx. 46 mph) on the initial descents and flats before I spin out (approx. 114 rpm).  The 42/36 combination lets me crank within a comfortable rpm on the steepest of the climbs. 

Yesterday I was a pig.  I ate sausages, cake, pasta, pizza, lots of bread and peanut butter.  Half a bottle of wine.  All of this put me at a 195 lb starting weight this morning.  (Within 5 miles my body gets the point,  authorizes emphatic peristalsis … and I’m returned to something somewhat lighter). 

The first half of the `loop’ was great.  Some ups and downs but lots of long descents where I could really put that 58t front ring to work. 

In a `race’ (for me) it’s important to be able to produce lots of power without backing off.  I’m particularly motivated to `catch’ whomever is in front of me.  Especially on the climbs.  Why `especially on the climbs?’  Because other cyclists ride upright, diamond frame bikes and they smugly `know’ that “recumbents can’t climb.”  I like to pass them on the climbs.  Aggression.  Almost to the point of dangerous hostility.  When I’m doing this I literally don’t care if my heart rate exceeds 3 digits.  I’m often breathing so hard I sound like a train. 

When I race the `loop' I carry nothing.  No water.  No tools.  No tubes.  No food.  Nothing.  I don't stop.  Just me on the bike.  And I'll probably drop 10 lbs by then.  I feel literally `bouyant' for the race.  And I'm (humility is such a burden) fast. 

So today I made myself do a non-stop 17 mile climb in the 58t big ring upfront.  My cadence, at times, was as low as 40 rpm.  My speed stayed just barely above 4 mph at times.  The last 5 miles of this climb was constantly between 6% and 11%. 

I was fat.  Carrying 30 lbs of dead weight.  And cranking low and slow. 

I know that pro trainers and many other more informed cyclists disapprove of, or find this training tactic either pointless or destructive.  For me, however, it builds a) capacity to endure the stress of constant power output, b) muscle and ligament strength. 

At the very end of the `loop’ (clockwise) there is a 2 mile steep descent.  I clicked into the 58/11 and tore down the descent.  I had to feather the brakes at one point because the rushing wind was pushing my helmet visor down over my eyes. 

Sloppy.  Heavy.  Mortal.  And better.