The title says it all! Yeah, I haven't posted anything since the start of the year - and you know why? It's because I'm working so hard to get back into shape! You know who says exercise is fun? The ones that are already in shape - and have paid their dues a long, long time ago and forgot how much work it took for them to get into such good shape in the first place! Yeah, you know who you are ...
Then there are the rest of us - maybe someone like myself, who *used* to be in great shape - especially when I was road racing just a few years ago, back in 2007/2008 - if you wanted to do a road race, you could not just be a "weekend warrior" type cyclist - you needed to *train* - a lot - as much as possible - including 2 or 3 days during the weekdays (somehow) ... and that means you had to get out there and ride in conditions that are not exactly "ideal", i.e., raining (and raining hard, not just sprinkles), fierce wind storms, super cold mornings (like temps down in the 30s type cold), blazing hot afternoons in the summer (if that is the only time slot you had open to get in your training ride), etc.
Yeah - those hours spent training for my road races were a lot of work - then I stopped cycling one day, back in 2008, when I burned out on a training ride (I was training for my 4th Death Ride in July of that year - it's a 130 mile "fun" ride, where you do more than 15,000 feet of climbing by riding up and over 5 different Sierra passes - all between 5500 and 9000 feet elevation - totally *cruel* - but still, "fun") ...
So here I am, post heart surgery - trying to desperately get back to some semblance of my old self - I don't expect to race again (at least, it's not showing up on my calendar right now) - but it would be nice to get back into decent cycling shape - like maybe 80% or 90% of my max fitness back in the 2007 timeframe (that's when I set most of my cycling records - best times up various climbs, etc.) ...
And there is no doubt about it - coming back is hard work - regardless of whether or not you've had heart surgery - just ask any cyclist that has been off their bike for a few years and then tries to get back into shape (especially after gaining the requisite 30 to 50 pounds, as I did) - it's a *lot* of work! My only consolation is that one day (about 1 year from now, I am estimating), I will be able to look back at all the hard work I'm doing this year and say, "Yeah - it was hard, but worth it!" - I can't wait to say those magic words, for sure!
But right now, I cannot issue that statement - I can only marvel at how hard it is to ride my bike up a small (but tough) climb - like the end of Rodeo Gulch, for example - that is what I did yesterday.
One of my biking buddies, Mike, and I decided that we would try a classic ride that we used to do years ago (Mike was one of the guys I rode with on a regular basis - it was easy, since he lives right there in my neighborhood!) - the ride we chose for yesterday's adventure was the Rodeo Gulch - Granite Creek classic ride - we head out from Scotts Valley, bobble over the little rollers on Green Hills road, glide down Glen Canyon into Santa Cruz, then wind our way along the foothills until we get to Rodeo Gulch (just off of Soquel) - we turn onto Rodeo Gulch and then do the 4.2 mile climb up to the top of Rodeo Gulch, where you get a spectacular view of the entire world (well, Santa Cruz, at least) - and this was a beautiful morning - sunny - but really, really cold! - like high 30s, low 40s type cold ...
Now, the climb up Rodeo Gulch is 4.2 miles - and the average grade is just 3.5% - which sounds like a piece of cake - but it's deceptive because the road gradually gets steeper and steeper towards the end - and then you hit "the mailbox" - yeah, that nasty mailbox - the one where you make a small right turn - and then you get hit with the last 0.7 miles - but that last part of the climb averages about 10% - and that's a lot more work than doing a 3.5% grade type of climb - a *lot* more - in fact, it's so much more work, that I was riding just under 4 mph for that last part - 4 mph! I mean, a lot of people can almost walk that fast - but I did not walk- I pedaled the whole time, stroke by stroke - until I hit the top of the climb - and then I met up with Mike (who had zoomed up ahead of me, since he's in much better climbing shape than me right now) - and we enjoyed a little break, munching on our gels (yum!) and drinking a lot of water - and enjoying the amazing views from our little perch on top of the world (or, so it seemed) ...
Then we ride along Rodeo Gulch at the top, where it just rolls gently - and finally descends a short distance to the end of the road, where it meets up with the intersection of Mtn View Rd and Laurel Rd - we hang a left (which is Mtn View Rd) - and do a fun drop down to Branciforte - then we saunter along Branciforte, which on average drops down some more (but ever so gently) until we get to Granite Creek - and then we do the Granite Creek climb back up into Scotts Valley.
The whole ride is only about 22+ miles - but it is also just about 2200 feet of climbing - in other words, it's a classic ride for us, where we do 1000 feet of climbing for every 10 miles we ride - that rule of thumb works out quite well for the vast majority of our rides, since from Scotts Valley, you either drop down into Santa Cruz for some ride - and have to ride back up to Scotts Valley - or you climb out of Scotts Valley and head up to the top of the Santa Cruz mountains, where you can then go either north or south and find some nice roads to get you back to Scotts Valley (and we have dozens of variations that we do for our various loops).
Well, I expected the Granite Creek climb to be tough - it is actually 2 climbs - one smaller one that is about 0.5 miles in length and then a bigger climb that is a bit longer - and definitely has a steeper average grade - but I had ridden Granite Creek a couple of times since my heart surgery - and had survived the climbs. So I knew I could get up those 2 climbs - I simply expected that due to my butt getting kicked by the Rodeo Gulch climb (which would soften up my legs a lot), I was going to do that Granite Creek climb at an all-time slow speed.
But - good news! - and this is where I can (ever so slowly) see actual progress happening in my comeback - I did those 2 Granite Creek climbs faster than my 2 previous attempts - I took 20 seconds off that first climb and 40 seconds off the second climb - woohoo!!!!
So this demonstrates to me, quite clearly, that I am getting stronger - it's all relative, of course - and compared to a few years ago, my times still royally suck - but they aren't quite as sucky (is that a word?) as they were when I first started riding back in November of last year.
As such, although I still cannot issue those magic words ("Yeah - it was hard, but worth it!"), I can at least say, "Yeah - it was hard, but one day down the road, it will be worth it!" - and that's all I have to say today... :)
Keep on cycling! And a corollary - once you get back into good cycling shape, don't ever stop!
Monday, February 11, 2013
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