Another Secret Revealed To Climb Faster

So I was doing one of training rides recently, heading from where I work in San Mateo over to Woodside, to climb part way up Kings Mtn Rd - it's related to my "secret" training program that I talked about in an earlier posting ( you can read all about it right here ).

Well, as I'm approaching Tripp Rd, where I start my timer for the climb up Kings Mtn Rd, I happened to pass by 3 cyclists that were heading in my direction. I was riding slightly faster than them, preparing for the grind up the climb.

Of course, they knew nothing about my "secret" training program - or me, for that matter! But it was clear that something inspired them to pick up their pace, in order to shadow me up the climb - or maybe just pass me by, which would not be too hard to do, since I'm not exactly the fastest climber in the world.

In fact, I'm a fairly poor climber that is attempting to mold myself into a decent, "average" climber. In this case, "average" means that I can finish mid-pack in the Low-Key Hill Climb series this year. And that is no small task - if you are "average" (meaning you can score 100.0 points on any of the climbs in that series), you can probably climb better than your typical recreational cyclist - and it means you can probably hang on in the main pack for a road race that involves some climbing. And that is my main cycling goal this year - climb well enough to just "hang in" during a road race that has some climbs, and not get dropped from the main pack...

Now, back to the 3 cyclists that started to shadow me as I started climbing Kings Mtn Rd...

Well, as I said earlier, I'm not sure what inspired them to up their pace and start to shadow me up the climb, but I'm guessing it might have been my SCCCC cycling kit.

I joined the SCCCC race team in the middle of last year, just after I got my racing license in May of 2007. At the time, I was able to purchase only 1 jersey - so I had to wear my usual black biking shorts (bibs, actually) and black cycling shoes. But at the end of 2007, we were able to put in our clothing order for 2008, and I decided to order a whole lot of goodies - a couple of jerseys (short sleeve and long sleeve), a couple of bibs (shorts and knickers), some vests (including a really nice thermal vest), shoe covers (even thermal ones!), a couple of skinsuits for time trials - all in all, several hundreds of dollars worth of cycling clothes!

So now I can get all decked out in my SCCCC kit when I go for rides - and I've noticed that I no longer have any desire to wear anything *but* my cycling kit - it's kind of like a badge of honor, I guess...

In my mind, I was thinking these 3 guys wanted to see if they could keep up with a "professional" road racer, which is who they might have thought I was - who knows? Maybe they imagined I was a super climber, like Kevin Metcalfe. Or Mark Edwards. Or Clark Foy. Or Tim Clark. Little did they know that I was just me - someone desperately trying to become an "average" climber - and nowhere in the league of those great climbers I just mentioned. I'm really built more for sprinting and time-trialing - I don't have that real lightweight body that is the trademark of so many of the great climbers - and I don't have the time to train enough to increase my power to the point where I can use brute force to overcome my larger body type.

But I guess when I realized these 3 guys had decided to jump onto my tail, some kind of magic power overwhelmed me - and I felt I had to try and not totally embarrass the racing team I represented with my kit - so I started to push just a little harder and faster than I might normally do at the beginning of the Kings Mtn climb...

I figured they would probably stay with me for a mile or so, then swoosh right by me, to let me know that they could easily beat a "professional" racer...

But that didn't happen! In fact, after just a 1/2 mile or so, I glanced back and saw that all 3 had dropped off my tail and were apparently in great duress - if Phil Liggett were commentating, I could hear him now: "Those boys will really have to dig deep into their suitcase of courage!" - or maybe: "Those boys are in a spot of bother on this climb!" - perhaps even this: "Those boys' legs will be screaming for them to stop!"...

And here's what I imagined Phil would be saying about my performance at that moment in time: "He's dancing on his pedals in a most immodest way!" - or perhaps: "He climbs like an angel!" - maybe even this: "There's Steve Rosen, turning over those massive gears!"...

Well, in any case, I realized that wearing my SCCCC kit seemed to inspire me to ride just a little harder - and hence, a little faster - than I might normally ride - and that day, I ended up getting to my destination spot on the climb (about 1/2 way up for that day's goal) in a record time for me - woohooo!!

Oh, and those 3 cyclists? Well, they totally dropped out of sight by the time I reached the Huddart Park entrance (about 1.4 miles up the climb from Tripp Rd) - and after I reached my pre-determined spot for the day (2.2 miles up the climb), I congratulated myself on my excellent time (well, excellent for me, anyway!) - and then proceeded to head back down the mountain. As I passed by the Huddart Park entrance, I saw those 3 cyclists, who had stopped to take a brief rest - and they had this look of total disbelief on their faces! I think they had imagined that I had ridden all the way to the top of Kings Mtn Rd and was now coming back down to head home! I just smiled at them, suggesting that that is exactly what I had done... :)

So you want to climb just a little faster than the next guy? Well, join a cycling climb - and be sure to order your kit - and wear it every time you ride...

And now you've learned just one more secret to climbing faster - your mental attitude can be all the difference between winning - or losing - the race...

...and wearing your kit doesn't hurt, either!