While training today I found myself tired, sore, cold and wet. Asking myself the important question: worth it or not worth it? And the essential corollary: is cycling a priority?
Ranked in priority:
- Wife
- Family
- Work
- Political Activity (Trump is a threat to all that the U.S. Constitution stands for)
- Cycling
And, if cycling is last of the list of 5 it is certainly got a big `footprint' in my weekly life: time, effort and intensity.
Living up here in the Arizona mountains and having nothing remotely resembling level ground makes training ... complicated. I don't like even the `idea' of driving tens of miles to find terrain that is warmer, flatter and drier.
An hour and a half away (and 4,000 feet lower, and 20F degrees warmer) means I have a 3 hour commute. Vulture Mine Road Vulture Mine Road is an excellent training course for several reasons: good road, almost no traffic, a mix of level and hills, no ice or snow. But it ... is 3 hours away.
Nearby (literally right outside my door) is some of the most challenging terrain I know of. Prescott High Country Again, the roads are smooth, traffic is minimal, most drivers are regulars (I often get a `wave' as they go by). But the altitude makes for ice and snow. And a climbing experience requiring preparation and serious consideration.
Over the past few weeks I've focused on a `high country' course with good road, wide shoulders and minimal traffic. But it is a `killer': Prescott - Kirkland Junction - Out and Back The return leg is 25 miles and 3,400 feet of climbing, getting steeper (7 - 11% grades) as you reach the top end of the course. I have to dress for freezing wind chill (descending into 35F at up to 50 mph for 13 miles), `warmer' low country, and sweaty climbs back up.
But it is GREAT training.
We're supposed to get 8 inches of snow tomorrow so more `clothing' testing will be delayed for a few days.
Where I live one is either climbing or descending. Nothing is remotely flat, or even
`flattish.' Today's training session is the classic example.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/12333556
A 12.2 mile descent with 2,000 feet elevation loss. At 6014 ft
elevation I started out in a grey cloud fog, making any eye glasses or
eye gear useless (lenses fogged up on inside and had obscuring rain
drops on outside).
Descending at 42 mph into a 12 mph headwind at 43F on wet (though
excellent) road made for careful going. The National Weather Service
[url="https://www.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc_windchill[/URL] windchill
calculator puts the windchill figure at below 30F. Which I don't
accept. Perhaps the rain and fog, being wet, made it feel more like in
the mid-teens.
I wore
- Armwarmers made from woolen tube sox ($6 compared to $35 brand armwarmers).
- A merino wool long sleeve jersey.
- Two merino wool short sleeve jerseys.
- My favorite low tech Giordana clear plastic rain jacket (and wind shell).
- Two pairs of gloves (Coolibar fingerless and a no-name full fingered wool set).
- A balaclava with a thin cotton skull cap.
- Polypropylene leggings.
- And a simple pair of Aerotech Design shorts.
All tight and tucked for the extended descent (37 minutes).
On the climb back up the balaclava, second pair of gloves came off. And I unzipped the jerseys. Still no glasses.
As I got above 5,200 feet (and colder and foggier) the second pair gloves came back on and I zipped up.
It was quite a fashion show.
A fitting way to start the winter.
3,488 feet of climbing on the 25 mile return leg of a 50 mile out and back. Most of the climbing done in the last 13 miles of the route.
Temp dropped 20F, a driving rain, cold SE crosswind the last 15 miles of climbing. Lots
of 8+% grades. Road excellent. I felt like I had been in a fight - and won - by the time I finished.
The descent wasn't as boring as it usually is because of the challenge of the driving wind and rain. Still, managed to push 48+ mph for a good bit. The steeply reclined (4 degrees) position, use of the ``Luge / Bobsled' ' position , the Railgun seat, tiller and `handlebar on my chest' technique delivered the results I want.
