October 2016 Biking Cycling Bicycling Challenge!

So ole grandpa PR'd a climb segment today. For the segment in question I was blazing along at 4.5 mph. Yow!
I gotta admit that prior to that I was moving a bit slower. For a while a big ole fat black squirrel was pacing me. He would run up ahead, stop, turn and look at me. He wasn't the least bit worried that I would catch him.

Ride total 14.7 miles (7.3 climbing)
Elevation Gain 2,277 feet
Elevation Gain for October 18,407 feet

I am working a strava october climb challenge of 30,000 feet (9000m)
so I have 11,600 feet to climb in the next 10 days.

Man o man!

October 5th 18 Miles -- Duration 1:04
Oct 7th 10 Miles -- Duration 0:40
Oct 9th 16 Miles -- Duration 1:01
Oct 11th 18 Miles-- Duration 1:06
Oct 12th 19 Miles--Duration 1:09
Oct 13th 19 Miles--Duration 1:09
Oct 14th 19 Miles--Duration 1:10
Oct 15th 10Miles--Duration 0:35
Oct 19th 8 Miles-- Duration 0:30
Oct 20th 20Miles--Duration 1:02
Oct 21st 20Miles--Duration 1:01
Total 155Miles--Duration 9:38

Ohhim wrote: »

That ride is just a quick 20 mile spin. We "race" for about 15 of it at those paces with a warmup/cooldown at the end. As much as I enjoy my longer rides, sometimes it takes some intense intervals to really build up your leg strength and speed.

Very cool!

Hmm, reading all this makes me miss my bike. I wanna be apart of a cycling challenge!!

bocasdelbob wrote: »

@narak_lol
Yow! You got the 9000m climbing challenge pretty much hands down.
It is kind of iffy for me this late in the game. I might be able to pull it off.

Oh thanks so much! I almost forgot if you don't mention about the climbing challenge Good luck the rest of the month and keep us posted on your awesome rides \ (•◡•) /

I'm in for 200 miles in October

10/02 - 15.00 miles
10/03 - 15.00 miles
10/05 - 15.00 miles
10/09 - 15.00 miles
10/10 - 15.00 miles...75.00 miles so far
10/12 - 16.00 miles
10/13 - 14.00 miles
10/15 - 15.00 miles
10/19 - 15.00 miles
10/23 - 16.00 miles...151.00 miles so far

Chris

Ended up going out for a mid-distance bike/run brick workout today as I'm starting to taper for my IM, but wanted to finish my peaking for the week with a mid-distance brick ride. Didn't have trouble keeping the pace reasonable (20 out, 18 back) and ended up running 6 miles after the ride to see how my legs felt at my Ironman running pace, and they actually felt pretty good. Although running after 112 miles of biking may be a bit tougher, I feel like an 8 pace will be manageable for a full marathon distance run.

Ended up hitting my mileage goal for the month, but definitely plan to get in another 100 or so miles this upcoming week as from what I'm reading online, endurance (albeit at lower intensities) is something that you are supposed to try to maintain in the weeks leading up to a full IM race.

10/1 - 80 miles
10/14 - 17 miles (team ride)
10/15 - 40 miles (slow recovery w. some threshold intervals)
10/16 - 69 miles
10/19 - 115 miles
10/21 - 26 miles
10/23 - 65 miles

Total: 403 miles
Goal: 400 miles
Remaining: Done

2016 Bike Race Schedule:
Ironman 70.3 Florida - Apr 10 - 5:07:51 (21mph 56 mile time trial bike split)
Ironman 70.3 Augusta - Sep 25 - 4:43:56 (22.3mph 56.5 mile time trial bike split)
Ironman Florida - Nov 5

Machka9 wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

Review ...
(Distances include cycling + walking)
March: 489.8 km (304.3 miles) = 38 hours 4 min
April: 491.94 km (305.6 miles) = 43 hours 6 min
May: 361.81 km (224.8 miles) = 35 hours 50 min
June: 569.53 km (353.9 miles) = 41 hours 53 min
July: 230.7 km (143.35 miles) = 32 hours 45 min
Aug: 211.3 km (131.3 miles) = 28 hours 8 min
Sep: 306.7 km (190.6 miles) = 35 hour 2 min
Oct: 441.82 km (274.5 miles) = 47 hours 43 min
Nov: 660.21 km (410.23 miles) = 60 hours 41 min
Dec: 499.91 km (282.8 miles) = 54 hours 56 min
Jan: 864.79 km (537.35 miles) = 65 hours 36 min
Feb: 470.53 km (292.4 miles) = 40 hours 39 min
March: 917.73 km (570.2 miles) = 66 hours 13 min
April: 417.83 km (259.6 miles) = 40 hours 23 min
May: 267.09 km (165.9 miles) = 36 hours 10 min
June: 552.1 km (343 miles) = 54 hours 48 min
July: 709 km (440.5 miles) = 60 hours 41 minutes
August: 775.9 km (482.1 miles) = 54 hours 52 minutes
September: 371.3 km (230.7 miles) = 32 hours 20 min

All right, let's see what I can do for October. Unfortunately, I'm not off to a brilliant start ... sick again ... spent the first weekend of October sleeping. But hopefully the energy will come back quickly.

---

Totals:
Oct Cycling Outside: 0 km (0 min)
Oct Cycling Inside: 0 min
Oct Walking: 0 km (0 min)
Oct Stairs: 0 flights (0 min)
Oct Weightlifting: 0 min
Oct Rowing: 0 km (0 min)
Oct Time Total: 0 min = 0 hours 0 min
Oct Distance Total: 0 km = 0 miles

No cycling yet ... but soon, I hope!
Oct 1 - sick
Oct 2 - sick
Oct 3 - 1.4 km walking (17 min)
Oct 4 - 4 km walking (50 min)
Oct 5 - 1.3 km walking (16 min)
Oct 6 - 1.5 km walking (18 min)

---

Totals:
Oct Cycling Outside: 0 km (0 min)
Oct Cycling Inside: 0 min
Oct Walking: 8.2 km (101 min)
Oct Stairs: 0 flights (0 min)
Oct Weightlifting: 0 min
Oct Rowing: 0 km (0 min)
Oct Time Total: 0 min = 1 hours 41 min
Oct Distance Total: 8.2 km = 5 miles

Oct 7 - 22.2 km (70 min) cycling

Oct 8 - 390 km (19.5 hours) cycling

That's not a typo. That was a 600 km randonnee attempt ... but being sick so much lately meant that I haven't trained enough and just didn't have the strength to do the whole 600 km. We made it to 390 km and that was that.
Oct 9 - 1 km (12 min) walking
Oct 10 - 1.5 km (18 min) walking
Oct 11 - 0.5 km (6 min) walking ... at the airport on the way home

---

Totals:
Oct Cycling Outside: 412.2 km (1240 min)
Oct Cycling Inside: 0 min
Oct Walking: 11.2 km (137 min)
Oct Stairs: 0 flights (0 min)
Oct Weightlifting: 0 min
Oct Rowing: 0 km (0 min)
Oct Time Total: 1377 min = 22 hours 57 min
Oct Distance Total: 423.4 km = 263 miles

Oct 15 - 33.3 km cycling (105 min) + 1.5 km walking (18 min)
Oct 16 - not much!

---

Totals:
Oct Cycling Outside: 445.5 km (1345 min)
Oct Cycling Inside: 0 min
Oct Walking: 25.4 km (310 min)
Oct Stairs: 5 flights (4 min)
Oct Weightlifting: 0 min
Oct Rowing: 0 km (0 min)
Oct Time Total: 1659 min = 27 hours 39 min
Oct Distance Total: 470.9 km = 292.6 miles

It's been a while!

Oct 22 - 24.4 km cycling (75 min)

Oct 23 - 23.1 km cycling (70 min)

---

Totals:
Oct Cycling Outside: 493 km (1490 min)
Oct Cycling Inside: 0 min
Oct Walking: 50.3 km (618 min)
Oct Stairs: 20 flights (16 min)
Oct Weightlifting: 0 min
Oct Rowing: 0 km (0 min)
Oct Time Total: 2124 min = 35 hours 24 min
Oct Distance Total: 543.3 km = 337.6 miles

Climbing, climbing, climbing,
keep them doggies climbing...

I climbed 1600 ft on Sunday and
I climbed 1600 ft again today ...

Oh, and I PR'd a climb segment today. That segment called "the Placitas Wall." It is a little stretch of 8% grade that starts at 7000 ft. I ain't gonna tell you my speed on it. Suffice it to say a certain fat black squirrel is still looking back over his shoulder wondering if I will catch up. But hey, PR'd is PR'd.

My total elevation gain for Oct is up to 21,914 feet. That ain't too slouchy for an old geezer. So I got eight thousand feet to go and eight days to do it to get my 30,000 foot October Strava doo dad.

Here is a pic of a road I spent a week on back in July doing hill repeats. See the road traversing across on top of those cliff looking rocks? Prize goes to anyone who can name that mountain.

3 Oct-23.5mi
5 Oct-19mi
12 Oct-23mi
14 Oct-18mi
17 Oct-19mi
19 Oct-20mi
21 Oct-21mi
22 Oct-25mi
24 Oct-19mi

187.5/300

Tue 25 - 26.33 miles

MTD 372.1 / 145.01, YTD 2352.01 / 2500

Finally got my cadence sensor connected. Surprised to discover that I was cycling at low-70s rpm instead of the low-80s I had estimated, and consistently riding a gear or two too high to keep to 80+ rpm. Concentrated on keeping the cadence up and used the gears to adjust and it was revelatory - suddenly so much easier. Now I know how the shaven-legged types have been zooming past me in a blur of pedals*

(* well, that and the fitness thing, obviously)

Just got in a nice longer ride on my fixie to the polls for some early voting, then up to a greek neighborhood for a gyro this afternoon. Planning a team ride tomorrow, then a social ride with a friend visiting from DC on Thursday before a tempo race ride Friday AM. Suspect I'll get in a final 70 mile ride Sunday then cut back for my IM on November 5th.

If all goes to plan, I should finish the month around the megameter (1000km) mark, which'll be nice to hit for 4 months in a row, especially leading up to my Ironman.

10/1 - 80 miles
10/14 - 17 miles (team ride)
10/15 - 40 miles (slow recovery w. some threshold intervals)
10/16 - 69 miles
10/19 - 115 miles
10/21 - 26 miles
10/23 - 65 miles
10/25 - 37 miles

Total: 440 miles
Goal: 400 miles
Remaining: Done

2016 Bike Race Schedule:
Ironman 70.3 Florida - Apr 10 - 5:07:51 (21mph 56 mile time trial bike split)
Ironman 70.3 Augusta - Sep 25 - 4:43:56 (22.3mph 56.5 mile time trial bike split)
Ironman Florida - Nov 5

@35dollars - I've frequently struggled with Cadence. In time trial races and tempo team rides, I'm usually in the mid 80s when pedaling (vs. occasionally coasting), but when I go out for solo recovery rides, I'm spinning in the 70s. Still, my thighs are built wide with 23" circumferences that aren't individually far off from my 30" waistline, so I suspect a cadence of around 80 may actually be optimal for me (looking at riders like Ullrich). Regardless, you'll figure out what is optimal over time.

Just got back from my morning climb. Not too bad of traffic this morning. Forest Service truck, one other truck and a motorcycle. I was first up the hill though so I got to see the wildlife. I saw about a dozen or so big ole fat wild turkeys. Man o man! If I was a hunter I would have something good on the table tonight.

So I rode for 12.7 round trip. I hope that doesn't sound too wimpy.
That was 1,987 feet of climbing according to Strava. Some of that is 8% grade. I think there might be couple hundred yards of 10 %.

So that puts my October climbing up to
24,085 feet

So I need 6,000 feet more to satisfy my 30,000 foot climbing goal.

Really, I only have 4 more days to pull that off. I don't think I can pull it off.
But hey, ain't no crying about it. I got off the couch.
I am going to go weigh. I bet I am down a couple pounds. Probably water weight but still...

I been experimenting with cadence. Ran a faster cadence this climb. My right knee is thanking me for it.

Oh, and according to Strava I PR'd 2 segments. (I ain't quite got that figured out yet.)

Got in a nice fast ride with my Tri team this morning.

En route back (as we do an out & back segment) another rider up front decided to pick up the pace and dropped 2 of our slower riders, so although I usually just play along and pull at the prescribed 22-23mph range, with the group down to just 3 stronger riders (including a frequent ironman age group winner), I ended up deciding to just get in 5 miles of pulling at 25mph as a final 12 minute kick to finish off the ride around 160bpm/220 watts as the other two were tiring. Although I'll usually just reserve that sort of thing for my solo rides, and pulls when riding with my Friday group are limited to 2 minutes of pain at ~28mph, it was nice getting in a longer slow burn intense pull to finish off a ride.

10/1 - 80 miles
10/14 - 17 miles (team ride)
10/15 - 40 miles (slow recovery w. some threshold intervals)
10/16 - 69 miles
10/19 - 115 miles
10/21 - 26 miles
10/23 - 65 miles
10/25 - 37 miles
10/26 - 33 miles

Total: 473 miles
Goal: 400 miles
Remaining: Done

2016 Bike Race Schedule:
Ironman 70.3 Florida - Apr 10 - 5:07:51 (21mph 56 mile time trial bike split)
Ironman 70.3 Augusta - Sep 25 - 4:43:56 (22.3mph 56.5 mile time trial bike split)
Ironman Florida - Nov 5