Aconcagua 2009 Expedition

62 mile ride - San Jose to Almaden to Gilroy and back.

Unexpectedly, my training for Aconcagua over the last few months that included “Brick” training every Tuesday and Thursday has caused me to discover a new love…  the bicycle.

I have always been a runner, not a cyclist, and never had more than a BMX bike until the last 5 years, and got my first mountain bike (other than the one I borrowed during college to get to class and back) about a year ago.

Starting with the Bricks every T/Th on the spinbike, I started to really enjoy cycling…  I would take the dog for a run on the bike a couple times a week, and even went about 10 miles a couple times for a “ride”.

Well, the last month has made me realize I REALLY enjoy being on the bike… I even went and replaced my stock pedals with clip-ins so i can get more out of the mountain bike I have.  I took this to the next level two weekends ago when I decided to go for a ride on a Saturday…  I posted on facebook on Friday night a question – “I mapped out several possible routes for a ride – 25, 30, 40, or 60 miles”…  I had two people immediately say 60.

I thought about it for a bit, went to bed, and when I got up the next morning, I thought… sure, why not…  So I got dressed, told my neighbor where I was going, and set out with a 1L camelback of water, 1/2 liter bottle of EFS, honey stinger chews and a bonk breaker bar for my trip.  I turned on the headphones and pedaled away… down Almaden Expressway, through Almade Valley, past Calero reservior, past Uvas, turned towards Watsonville, down to highway 152… on and on I went… wind in my face, legs just pedaling away.  I was elated.

I took the 152 to Monterrey Hyw in Gilroy, and turned towards home… now pedaling into a good 10-15 mph headwind, I hit the WALL big time.  I pulled over, finished off my EFS (water was already gone), had a couple energy chews and stood in the shade behind a tree for a few…  about 5 minutes went by, and I got back in the saddle and felt much better pedaling again…

It was at that time, that I looked down and saw a squishy front tire… oh crap!  I am in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire and no repair kit – brilliant.

I got off the bike, and in my oh so comfortable bike shoes begin walking down the road, I stopped and quickly took out my iPhone, pulled up Yelp, and searched on “bike” near my “Current Location”  Sunshine Bikes – 3.2 miles north on Monterrey.  Sweet!

I continued walking, and decided I might not make it in time, so I raised my thumb… I have never hitchiked in my life, but at 34, why not start now.  I walked about a mile and a half with every “fancy” pickup truck that passed not even slowing down… lame.

Finally, a car pulled over.  and started honking… I hobbled in my bike shoes as I ran over the bridge to the car stopped ahead.  A nice woman had a pig trailer on the back of her SUV, and she helped me put the bike in and gave me a lift the remaining 2+ miles.

I offered her the $8 in cash I had and she refused… a real nice lady, and I thank her for helping me out.  The guys at Sunshine Bikes pulled out the thorn, gave me a new tube and pointed me to the nearest 7-11 on the way out of town (now in Morgan Hill).

I stopped and picked up 1.5 L water, and 2 16-oz bottles of gatorade.  I refilled the camelbak with water, downed one of the gatorade’s and poured the other into my bike bottle… drank what I could of the remaining water and poured the rest over my head… and with that I was back on the road.

I ground-out the remaining 18 or so miles – Monterey to Blossom Hill, to Snell, to Branham…  I pulled in, dropped the bike in the driveway, let my neighbor know I was fine, and went to take a shower.

I felt surprisingly well, though had trouble concentrating… I uploaded my HR data, and found that I had burned over 4700 calories…  it was time for food and quick.

I downed a glass of First Endurance Ultragen, then went and picked up a medium pizza, jalapeno poppers, and potato skins…  I ate about 1/2 of everything and felt much better in the morning (except for my sore feet from running in bike shoes).

All in all, it was a really enjoyable experience… now all I need is a road bike so I can enjoy it much more comfortably, and with less nerve pinches (numb ring & pinkie finger from the position on a mountain bike for 5 hours)

Data  Value  Unit�
Duration 5:36:35  �
Sampling Rate 5 s�
     �
Energy Expenditure 4699 kcal�
Number of Heart Beats 50163 beats�
Recovery -63 beats�
Minimum Heart Rate 89 bpm�
Average Heart Rate 149 bpm�
Maximum Heart Rate 179 bpm�
Standard Deviation 14.1 bpm�
     �
Minimum Speed 0.6 mph�
Average Speed 13.5 mph�
Maximum Speed 48.7 mph�
Distance  63.1 miles�
     �
Minimum Altitude  217 ft�
Average Altitude  413 ft�
Maximum Altitude  810 ft�
Ascent 1138 ft�
Descent 741 ft�
Slopes 2  �
VAM 203 ft/h�
      

Notice the super-fast speed about 2/3rds through my ride... that is when I was sitting in the car

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated my blog and training  log.  The last few weeks have been much of the same training-wise, so detailing day by day won’t really say much.  In essence, you can look at training over the past few months and that’s pretty much what the last couple weeks has been…  It has been tough lately with some personal items going on at home, and work stress to-boot, so despite hitting some big accomplishments trainin-wise (below), I know I am not yet reaching my potential.

I haven’t had a training hike in 4 weeks now, which is unfortunate, but the physical training has continued to get more intense…  I am now hoping to have 2 big training hikes – Shasta in mid-October, and Mt. Whitney again the 1st week in November.  I have several maybe’s for the trip, and am really hoping I will get at least one confirmed climbing partner for each trip.

The intensity as I said of my workouts continues to increase.  I read a book called “Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes” by Monique Ryan (http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Nutrition-Endurance-Athletes-Monique/dp/1931382964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252611058&sr=8-1) and have found several items in the book incredibly effective at helping me step my work up a notch.

The key takeaways for me from the book were pre and post exercise nutrition…  Making sure I have the fuel and hydration going into a training session, and how to refuel for the quickest recovery to be ready for the next round are becoming more and more important for me to maximize my effort and training effectiveness.  By following some simple steps around carbohydrate and water timing before training, I have been able to see really incredible results, and so far have been able to get my peak heart rate during cycling exercises from 169 bpm (91% of max) to 181 bpm (97.8% of max) sustained for 15 seconds.

Through my training, I have also really begun to fall in love with cycling…  now, all I have to do is really start to like swimming again, and I’ll be mentally ready to start preparing for triathalons after the 1st of the year , which is when I am also hoping to purchase a road bike…  Until then, I have bought a pair of Shimano M324 SPD pedals for my Canondale F5, and a pair of Sidi Giau MTB shoes so I can clip-in and really push myself on the bike.