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Head for the hills

08.24.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

It’s time to get serious. I’ve actually set some goals for the next couple of months (more about that later in this post). But in order to meet those goals, I have to ramp things up.

I was happy, therefore, to see that this week’s B ride would be led by my pal David. He’s been biking since the early ’90s, and has been a dependable source of information about getting better. David decided the B’s would ride the Lost Creek hills (“I don’t know what’s ‘B’ about that,” said the A ride leader).

Once again, As and Bs headed out together. The As were going to do an over-the-top hills expedition, and we wanted no part of that. They went their own way about five miles into the ride. The Bs shot along the curvy downhill into the Barton Creek neighborhood.

At Lost Creek Blvd., we turned again. David advised us not to be afraid to ride the brakes on the upcoming downhills. They were twisty, and at over 30 mph, a bit unnerving. But then the climbs began.

The first one was daunting. We quickly shifted down to our lowest ring and cog combinations, and stood on the pedals, straining to overcome the steep grade. About halfway up, Chris, who was riding with us for the first time, declared that he was hopping off to walk. We waited at the top for him, and I was glad of the chance to catch my breath.

Two more similar challenges followed. Eddie, the other new B rider, led me to the top of each one, where we waited for Chris before starting out again. Finally, David gave us the good news.

“We’re done,” he said. But we weren’t — not really.

David (foreground) and Eddie wait at the top of the last of three Lost Creek hills. No shots of the hills themselves, because I was either hanging on for dear life on the downhills, or pulling hard on the bars in the uphills. Either way, I needed both hands.

David wanted us to get a taste of Loop 360. This is probably Austin’s best known biking route. It’s a four-lane divided highway with a generous shoulder. And it’s hilly, but not steeply so like Lost Creek. The hills on 360 are loooong. We traveled another five miles or so up 360, turned around and did it all over again coming back.

Chris crosses an exit ramp on 360, while David catches up.

In the post-mortem over drinks at Starbucks, David told us that riding Lost Creek and 360 would be a quick way to build our endurance and climbing prowess. No doubt about that. The good news for me was one, I actually climbed all the hills without having to get off and walk the bike up any of them — something that would not have been possible just a month ago — and two, I felt great after it was all over. I did 33.5 miles at an average of 13.6 mph — the hills really cut into the average speed — and I felt ready for more. It was a nice contrast to some bonking episodes I’ve talked about earlier this summer.

So, in light of today’s performance, I’ve decided to go public with a big goal for me: I’m going to tackle an Imperial Century. I plan to do the 100-mile ride at the Outlaw Trail 100 in Round Rock, Texas in October. I’ll warm up for it with a metric century (100 kilometers, or 62 miles) at the Tour de Florence, in Florence, Texas next month, and I’ll be increasing my weekly mileage and the length of my weekend rides between now and the ride day. Things are looking up for the Noob. Follow my progress here.

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Categories // Rides, training Tags // hills, improvement, Rides, training

The Alps of Circle C

07.31.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

I’ve griped a time or two before about my slowness on hills, or even an inability to climb them without walking. I’ve kept telling myself this had to change. Recently, I’ve been riding routes that contain some decent hills, in an effort to build my thighs and not flinch from them as much as I have in the past. It’s helped — but I’m not going to win King of the Mountains anytime soon.

Today, that might have started to change. I went out on a friendly ride with a guy I haven’t ridden with for awhile. We cruised at a moderate pace, catching up on what we’ve been doing. But then, it was time to pick a route.

“Have you ever ridden the Alps of Circle C?” he asked. (We live in the Circle C Ranch subdivision.)

“Never even heard of it,” I said.

“That’s because it’s a route I cooked up myself.” he said. “I wanted a place nearby to get some hill work. So I looked around for hills in the neighborhood.”

We headed out on Mopac, turned west on Hwy 45, and rode the first hill up toward Escarpment Blvd. Not too tough, although he finished substantially ahead of me. Turning on Escarpment took us into the residential area, and the first small hill. Then we turned on some streets I hadn’t seen before (this is at the southern end of the subdivision, and it’s an area I seldom visit). We went up a street called Savin Hill, which curved, always climbing, for about half a mile. Then we did it again. I was huffing and puffing at the end of the second climb.

“Got another,” he said, as we turned down a different street. It was a long, looping road with a steady climb to Escarpment. Not tough, but another tester. Time to loop through a different area. Back out onto Hwy 45, with a series of mild climbs to the highest point on the route. But the return eastbound features a nice downhill that gave us a chance to recover — just in time for another series of climbs to the end of the route.

Real climbers won’t be impressed by the elevation change…

But as I said, my thighs burned.

“Whenever I want a quick workout, this is what I do,” said my friend. “I can finish it off in about 45 minutes and head to work.”

I thought I actually climbed better halfway through the ride than I had near the beginning, when I was fresh. I’m sure we’ll do this route again, many times. But I’m also going to be doing it on my own.

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Categories // Rides, training Tags // hills, Rides, training

Riding with the B’s

07.27.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

After last weekend’s reality check, I figured I’d be better off riding with the B riders in our club. Just a reminder — we consider A’s to be able to ride decent distances at a fast pace. B’s are slower, and don’t go as far. I know many other clubs break down riders into more classifications than we do.

Anyhow, since our B’s haven’t been very active lately, I guessed that if we were going to have a B ride, I would have to organize it. But whadya know, another guy beat me to it.

The A’s had an ambitious and difficult route planned for today. The B organizer picked a route that would follow them for a ways, then head back to our starting spot. We’d be in for some hills, but the ride itself would be relatively short.

The route on Map My Ride. The tough hill is at the top of the twisty part at the upper left.

Ride elevation. The hill most of us had to walk is at the 10-mile point.

The morning was perfect. Sunny, warm but not hot, not much wind. We set off with the A riders, so about 17 of us cut a fine figure pedaling through the neighborhood. We turned onto Barton Creek Blvd., which winds through a swanky neighborhood by a nationally-famous golf resort. I hadn’t ridden this road before, and I knew it was hilly. But the hills weren’t too much of a problem, until the last one before reaching Ranch Road 2244. That forced most of us to get off and walk.

At 2244, the A riders turned west, and we turned east for the ride home. The rest of the route was on shoulders of sometimes busy highways. Plenty of hills through here as well, as seen by this cell phone camera shot along Loop 360, but these were not difficult.

We got back to our Starbucks starting point for some FrappaMochaCappucinoLattes, or whatever, and some chit chat. Ride time: about 23 miles in 1 hour 43 minutes, avg speed: 14.7 mph. None of us could have kept up with the A group, and none of us cared. It was the kind of ride I’ve been looking for since joining the club. I’m looking forward to many more of the same, now that the B’s seem to be up and running again.


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Categories // clubs, Rides Tags // clubs, hills, Rides

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