One of the traditional rides on Thanksgiving morning is to make the 19 mile climb up Mt. Hamilton. There were two separate club rides up the hill that day, but I wanted an extra challenge so I joined in the race sponsored by the Low Key Hill Climb series. Not exactly “low key”, but neither a sanctioned race.

Starting near sea level, the finish is at over 4,000 feet, the highest elevation for any local climb. At the top there is the famous Mt. Hamilton Observatory. With a maximum grade of about 6%, the road leading up is never real steep. To allow the movement of the heavy equipment to build the observatory many years ago, they had to keep the grade from being too excessive. Still, with over 18 miles of racing, mostly all up hill, it is a challenge indeed.

There was a very large turnout for the race, the most I have seen at any Low Key Hill Climb race. I arrived around 8:30 when registration was open and we all started soon after 9:30 am. The temperature had warmed up by then so I took off my jacket before the start and carried it for the later descent. I started a ways back in the pack of about 200 cyclists, not wanting to get in the way of the real fast riders. That was a bit of a mistake because I had to go around a lot of riders in the first half mile. But soon I settled down to a fast, but constant rhythm. I noted that my heart rate was hovering around 170 and I started to worry that maybe I was burning myself up. This is above my Lactate Threshold so I would not be able to hold this for the 90 plus minutes of the race. But I felt fine so I kept holding the pace and continued to pass a few more riders.

There are two short down hill sections on the course, which allowed for some recovery.

photo by Adam Tow

When I was within 3 miles of the finish, I was surprised I had been able to not only keep my heart rate up, but was feeling strong enough to pickup the pace further and start to pace some additional riders who seemed to be suffering from the effect of the long climb.

I crossed the finish line at the parking lot of the Observatory with a total time of 96:46. This is a bit less than my official time of 97:03 because I did not start my watch until I reached the intersection while the front of the pact was actually positioned beyond that point when the official clock started. Although this was not my very best time, it was a minute faster than the same race last year, so I was happy with that.

When I returned home and downloaded the data from my heart rate monitor I was surprised that for the entire climb I averaged a heart rate of 168, including the downhill sections. That means my Lactate Threshold is something above that, which is remarkable for someone nearly 62 years old. My maximum heart rate during the climb was 176, close to my max heart rate. You can see this on this graph (click to enlarge).

When they posted the results I was 86th place out of 152 men and it appears I had the fastest time for anyone over 60 years of age. It is a bit difficult to be sure because this is a low key event and some people make up their own categories, but most use something related to their age. They have a scoring system where you get some percentage of the median time. For this race I got a score of 97.80 since I was slightly slower than the median male rider. When I did the Montebello hill climb race last month, and set a new PR, I scored a 102.15.

My biking is not quite up to last year’s level in either total miles or feet of climbing. Last year in the fall I did both the Everest Challenge and the Furnace Creek 508 races so I didn’t think I would do as well this year on the Mt. Hamilton race. Even being a year older and with fewer feet of climbing, I still shaved over a minute off my time from last year.

It was a fun event. I was surprised I was able to hold my heart rate at such a high level for so long. I think I might have been able to push even harder but it was Thanksgiving and I wanted to have energy left to eat that big meal. Since I burned over 1,600 calories on the race, I had no guilt eating that afternoon.

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I joined the Low Key Hill Climb race today up Montebello. This hill is about 5.3 miles in length and a climb of 1,980 feet with an average grade of about 7%. I was able to take nearly 5 minutes off my best previous time set last year. My final time was about 34:25.

Franz At Finish - photo by Calvin Do

I kept my heart rate high the entire climb with an average of 168 and a maximum of 174. After the initial ramp-up, I keep it in the red zone for the whole climb, as you can see below (click graph to view enlarged).

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To the non cyclists, they might think a Tour of California is something you do in your car. But we are talking about Cycling here and that means the Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle race. Even the non cyclists have probably heard of Lance Armstrong. Today we got to see him race up some of the hills we have often climbed.

A couple in our local bike club had offered their home for a big party to watch stage 3 of the Tour. They live right on the route, on one of the steeper hills of the whole week. It has been raining every day and the pro cyclists have had to battle the elements in both the Prologue and the first two stages. Today was no exception.

With no parking on the Sierra Road, we were initially planning on biking from a nearby place but as we were driving up to San Jose it was really pouring. Yesterday we had gone out for a bike ride with all our rain gear on and we were ready to do the same. But we thought maybe we could park off the road if we got there early enough so we headed straight to Sierra Road. We were able to park in the neighbor’s driveway, which was great. The rain had stopped by now so we thought it was a good time to get on the tandem. We made the long climb up Sierra Road, rated as a Category 1 climb for the Tour of California. It was windy and cold at the top but we stopped long enough to take a couple of pictures. I had not brought my big camera up with me on the bike so the iPhone filled in.

Anne at top of Sierra Road

Franz at the top of Sierra Road

It would have been fun to stay at the top to watch the racers come up, but it was very windy so we decided to head back down towards the bottom and join the party. It was a good thing we went back down the hill because it started to rain again just as we arrived. It was not long before the racers came though. I now had my Nikon D300 camera, to capture the lead car.

Unlike last year, Sierra Road was at the beginning of the stage but even so, there was already a break away of 4 riders coming up the hill. You can easily see these guys were having fun!

Right on their tail was Mancebo, who was the race leader after the first stage, only to lose the lead yesterday.

Not far behind was the peleton. You can see Lance Armstrong in the middle of the group.

Everyone went by so fast, even though they were climbing. We did not have a chance to take many pictures.

The team cars were then following the riders up the hill.

It was a wet, but very fun day. Climbing up Sierra Road before the race, made it even more enjoyable. Unlike the riders, we were able to keep dry and get under an umbrella to watch them race up the hill. It looks like the weather will finally be nice tomorrow for Stage 4, something I am sure they will all much appreciate after four miserable days for the racers.

[See More Photos]

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Today was the San Jose Bicycle Club annual Henry Coe Hillclimb race. I did well on this same race last year and wanted to see if I could come close to that time. From the beginning of the day I just didn’t have the confidence but felt I could still do well. My time was 38:33, which was 59 seconds slower than last year. When I got home I downloaded the data from my heart rate monitor and could see that I did almost the same in terms of average heart rate. I think my weight is up about 2 lbs, so that would make some difference in time but not all of it. I calculated that I was putting out about 2 more watts last year. If my weight was down 2 lbs, it would have meant 20 seconds faster, assuming I still put out the same watts. Still it was overall a good time I won’t do that well on the overall standings hoever. First they moved me from CAT 4 to CAT 3 from last year so I had only a 5 minutes hanicap vs. 6 last year. Second they gave a ridiculous handicap to CAT 4 racers of 10 minutes, compared with 6 minutes last year. With that handicap a lot of the CAT 4 racers should place in the top 20.

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I started out this morning with the plan to drive to Hollister and meet Russ and Sheila for a ride. We were going to bike over to Panoche Inn and meet up with a club ride. As I was leaving Gilroy it started to rain and half way to Hollister it was raining a lot more. The clouds down there looked dark. I called them and let them know I was changing plans and would go north (where the sky looked clear) and do the Low Key Hill Climb race up Quimby. I have not had a chance to climb this hill at a fast pace for many years, but only part of a long ride, so I was anxious to see how I could do compare with many years ago on the Quimby Mauler.

Quimby is a very steep hill, with grades on the switchbacks of around 20%. Even after the switchbacks the grade to the summit averages 13% with some as much as 15%. I had taken my old bike with a triple crank because this the steep grades. I usually climb this hill with my double crank, but wanted the lower gearing for racing. I ended up using the lowest gear for the entire top portion.

After 10 am, the racers all started from the high school on Ruby up to the race start location at Murillo. On the honk of horn, we all took off, maybe about 100 racers. The lower portion is not that steep so the speeds got going fast, but as soon as the grade increased, we started to thin out.

My final time was 27:20 (see results). That put me a bit faster than the median time of the 58 male racers and faster than anyone over 60. I wanted to see how that compares with my times in prior years. On those years I measured from Ruby so after the race I timed myself from Ruby to Murillo and that took me 4:18. Adding 4:18 to my race time I get 31:38, which is more than 3 minutes faster than my best time from Ruby before set back in 2003. So I was happy with my time. I was climbing at an overall rate of 62 feet / minute.

Wondering about the jersey I am wearing. It for the Everest Challenge. Here is a photo taken today before the race.

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So much for getting my exercise program back into balance with more running and less cycling. It was a cool, but sunny this morning when I got up. I figure I just had to do something on the bike. I was not up to doing a long ride, with only 6 days since the Furnace Creek 508. If not a long ride, how about a fast ride? I knew that the Low Key Hill Climb series was having a race up Alpine West today, so decided to do it. It was a long drive up from home to Palo Alto. Then I had to drive up Page Mill road, maybe a first for me. I have biked it many times but never in a car.

I parked up near the top with the rest of the racers and biked down Alpine West to the start location to register for the race. It was cold at the top, maybe less than 50 degrees. But I felt fresh enough to race.

The first part of the climb is a low grade so a bunch of the young bucks darted out ahead of me and were able to get some lead. When the real climb at 8% grade started I was able to slowly pass some of them. You can tell the ones who are not the real good climbers because their cycling style starts to waiver as the hill continues on. They are those you know you can pass with no attempt on their part to hang on your wheel.

My final time was 37:47. That put me right in the middle of the male racers. From what I can tell I was faster than anyone over 60 years old (see results). These racers are those who like to climb hills so being in the middle of the pack is okay with me although I could probably do a bit better if I were fully recovered.

On the way home, I heard a song on the radio, “Now I am a Believer”. That brought memories. But wait, this was not the Monkeys singing it. It was Smash Mouth. It was kind of like me, something old, but still feeling new. If you want to hear this “new” version, click the play button at the bottom of this post.

When I got home I noticed the Furnace Creek 508 medal on the table where I had left it. I picked it up and was amazed I had won a medal that had some real meaning. When I was a kid, I never did get a medal for anything because I was never really allowed to participate in sports. It is rather ironic that when I am older, then I get the medals that many received when their were teenagers. Kind of like something Old But New.

Franz near summit of Alpine
Photo by Brenda Brunner

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This past weekend, Paul and I competed as a two man relay team in the 25th Furnace Creek 508 bicycle race. We were lucky to have Russ and Sheila crew again for us. We started on Saturday morning at 9:00 am and finished on Sunday afternoon at 5:17 pm, for a total time of 32 hours, 17 minutes.

Watch Our Video

Preparation

We started the trek on Friday. After loading up the van with bikes and supplies we headed down to Santa Clarita.

We had a few mishaps on the way down. The first one was Paul seeing in his rear view mirror that one of his spare wheels had bounced off the top of the van. We were on a freeway so we had to go to the next exit several miles down and back track. It was hard to figure out where the wheel was, so we stopped at a rest stop and searched. Sheila finally found it, still in good condition.

The other mishap was some exploding coke cans. We had put them near the dry ice to cool them fast, but they froze and exploded.

After arriving, Russ and Paul worked on getting the signs on the van and then we had the inspection.

Saturday morning it was up early and get ready. Since the start hotel was not that far from where we were staying, I decided to just bike over there instead of try to put his bike up on the top of the van.

Start Line

It was a lot of fun to have so many friends at the start doing the race on other teams. Franz, Gary F. and Joe F. were at the starting line.

Eight Stages

I did the “A” rider stages again this year so he started out with the first stage from the start to California City.

We had a police escort for the first 5 miles. The support vehicles have to drive out to the 24 mile mark and wait for the rides.

The 84 mile ride over to California City was fast with both a tailwind and a cross wind at times. I arrived at 1:25 pm and made the hand off to Paul. He then headed to Trona.

Paul made very good time on this state, averaging 20.3 mph.

This year we were doing much better which allowed us to drive the support vehicle on to Trona and wait. Last year we had to go into the follow the rider mode at 6 pm. Since we could get to the time station before 6 pm, we could drive ahead and be ready before Paul finished the stage. Franz decided to switch to his bike with the triple since he would be climbing Townes Pass.

Paul arrived at 5:27 PM, and I made my way towards Townes Pass as the sun was setting.

One stage that I didn’t feel like he did well on last year was this stage 3, from Trona to Furnace Creek. This year my time was 6:03 compared with 7:17 last year, so nearly a 45 minute improvement.

It was now dark as I started to climb up Townes Pass. Unlike last year, it was much warmer, but there was a strong headwind. Once he reached the summit, I switched to his other bike, which had the bright light on it. It was then a 5,000 foot drop down into Death Valley, then the long ride over to Furnace Creek.

At 10:56 pm, Paul took over and started the stage to Shoshone. That involves considerable climbing, up out of the Death Valley.

He arrived at 5:27 am, so we needed to do a night time switch, which meant I could not get out of the car and get the bike ready until after Paul reached the time station. It was still dark as I left for Baker. After 7:00 am, the support van could go ahead and get to Baker in time for Paul to enjoy a milkshake before I arrived.

I came flying into Baker at 8:53 am.

The stage to Baker was slower than last year but there was a headwind instead of the tailwind Franz had enjoyed previously. He was glad to get off the bike, if he could only get his leg over it! But when he did he found they had bought him a cheeseburger and fries. Wow that was great.

Powered by the milkshake, Paul made his way towards Kelso.

At 11:30 AM, Paul arrived at Kelso and I took the hand off and headed to Almost Amboy.

Being his last stage, I took off fast with the plan to ride this 33 miles as fast as he could, despite the climbing. Besides I had that power from the cheeseburger that he had eaten in the van on the way over.

After the 2,200 foot climb, it was a very long descent down to Almost Amboy. It was not as fast as last year when we had the tail wind but Franz still was able to average 18.9 mph. Paul then started the last stage to the finish.

The Finish

Just before the finish, as is customary, I got back on the bike so we could cross the finish line together.

It was really the effort of the entire team, both riders and crew, that made this such a rewarding experience.

We were happy we finished 69 minutes faster than last year and within 7 minutes of our target (See Results).

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Five us (Eric, Doug, Kley, Luke and myself), all finished the Everest Challenge. Doug took my photo (above) after finishing the event. Doug came in 2nd place in the Masters 55+ and I can in 5th place with a total time of 14:47:48 (see official results). Kley and Luke competed in the Masters 45+ category. Eric was riding in the non timed category.

The Event

This USCF two day stage race is the California/Nevada State Climbing Championship and is considered the hardest two day USCF race. It was the most difficult cycling event I have ever completed, with over 200 miles and 29,035 feet of climbing.

DAY 1

Saturday we left the motel in Bishop and drove 6 miles north to the ride start. It was a bit cool, around 49 degrees. I decided to put on knee warmers, vest and arm warmers. The Masters 55+ started first at 6:45 along with all the female Pro/CAT1-5 racers. There was 11 men and probably 50 women racers. For the first 8 miles it was a neutralized start, so the pace was only about 18 mph on a mostly flat road. With the cool air I wanted to go faster to warm up. Doug was riding beside me and shivering so much his bike was shaking. Then the climbing started and the faster riders took off. I stayed with the leaders for awhile but I had already decided to keep my heart rate below 158 due to the two day event, so I backed off a bit. I mentioned to Doug that the guy up front was the one who won last year so he started to chase them.

From the very beginning I felt my legs were sore, even though I had take a couple of days off the bike. I think I did too much training in the week before the event. I realize that I had already climbed about 25,000 feet in the 7 days prior to starting the Everest Challenge. That would mean by the time I finished the two days I would climb almost 55,000 feet in 9 days. I think I should have tapered more.

I was riding my newer bike with a double crank. The first climb was up to Mosquito Flat. At 10,250 feet it is the highest paved road in the Sierras. It was cool for the entire 22 mile climb with an average grade of 5%, maximum of 11%. I reached the summit at 9:50 am. The descent was fast (over 41 mph) but still cold so I was glad I had worn what I had on. We biked over to the second climb up Pine Creek to 7,420 feet. On the climb I was passed by the first Pro/CAT1 male riders who had started 55 minutes after we did. It was the easiest climb of the day, with an average grade of 7% and nothing over 9%. I reached the summit at 11:55am and my average speed from the start was now up to 13.2 mph. It was now getting warm so after the descent I stopped to take off some clothes.

I reached the 3rd climb at 12:38 pm. This is a 20.4 mile climb up to Bishop Creek at 9,835 feet. It averaged 6%, but the last mile had some sections at around 15%. I was doing the math in my head. So far I had biked 6:04 so I was thinking if I made this climb in under two hours, I would be able to finish in around 8 hours. Certainly I could climb 6,000 feet over 20.4 miles in 2 hours, right? Wrong! It was a long climb with virtually not portions that leveled off to provide any recovery. The legs started to yell at me, enough is enough! The last 3 miles had some very steep sections which tested my tired legs. I started to cramp and had to stop for a couple of minutes before I could go on. I was a bit disappointed in how I did until I heard from others who seemed to have suffered also. Even Doug said he had cramped on that part. I finally reached the finish line at the summit at 3:13 pm. My average heart rate was 145 for the day and I had averaged 12.4 mph. You can see from the graph below I was keeping my heart rate out of the red zone through out the day. My total time from the start was 8:26:40, which was 5 minutes faster than my calculated best possible time.

DAY 2

I was determined to do Day 2 smarter. They were handing out filled water bottles on Day 1 but I had mistakenly taken some water bottles that I didn’t want to give up, so this meant extra time when I had to stop to refill my water bottles. This time I took other bottles that I was glad to get rid of. I also skipped the knee warmers to avoid the wasted time to stop and get off the bike to take them off. The biggest change however was I decided to use my old bike with a triple (which I had luckily brought along). The climbs on Day 1 were fine with a double (except the last part of the last climb) but I knew that tired legs would not work as well.

We got up at 6 am, loaded the car with everything, since we were checking out. It was a 16 mile drive south to Big Pine for the start. The temperature there was colder than for Day 1, at 42 degrees. We started again with the women racers at 6:45 am.

The neutralized start took us 3 miles back over highway 395 to where we started towards Palisade Glacier, starting at 3,940 feet and finishing at 7,800 feet. It was a tough climb, averaging 8%. I noticed immediately that I could not get my heart rate up as high as the prior day, a clear sign I was fatigued. It was warming fast so the cold temperature was not much of a factor for long. It was a beautiful hill to climb, especially up near the turn around point, which I reached at 8:20 am. There was a water stop there but I was prepared and didn’t need to stop riding. I just threw my empty water bottle into a bin and took a filled one and then off down the hill. When I reached speeds of around 40 mph, the bike started to shake a bit, which is why reason why I don’t like to descend on my old bike, so I had to brake to keep the speed under 40 mph.

Once I reached the bottom, it was biking the 3-4 miles back to the start for the easiest climb of the two days, up the Death Valley Road to 6,545 feet in 8.5 miles. With an average grade of 5% it seemed like we were not really climbing. I did not see any riders in front or behind me so I started to wonder if I had missed a turn. Then the lead rider from the men’s pro racers passed me. I reached the summit at 9:53 and did a slow turn around without dismounting, grabbing another water bottle and a Cliff Bar, which I ate on the way down. During the descent it was now clear we had actually climbed quite a bit since I was able to get up to about 31 mph.

After passing the start once again, I turned right to head up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. It was a 21 mile climb up to 10,100 feet with an average grade of 6%. But the bottom third had a long section with 9-12% grade so I was glad I had the lower gearing and really use it. This was the last climb of the event and seemed to go on forever. Even though I was putting in a full effort, my heart rate would only go above 142, compared with Day 1 when I was holding back to keep it below 158. I already knew the top 3 miles would be tough and they didn’t disappoint. The grade was averaging 10%, but sometimes steep. Even some of the young racers that we just now catching me were not going past me very fast as they were grinding it out. It was one of the hills where you can look up and see the miles ahead and wonder how in the world will you ever make your way up to the top. After a brutal climb to within 1.5 miles of the finish the grade did become a tad easier but was still hard. I crossed the finish line at 1:06 pm, with a total riding time of 6:21:08. My average heart rate had been 138 for the day and I have averaged 10.4 mph. You can see from the chart below the lower heart rate compared with the first day (click to enlarge)

Overall

Overall for the 2 days, I finished in 14:47:48, coming in under my goal of 15 hours. I was amazed I was only a single minute off my estimated best time. I am pretty sure I had the best time for anyone 60 or older, but they don’t have that category anymore. The last time they had a category for 60+, the winner was 40 minutes slower than my time.

I am happy that the event is over but did really enjoyed it. We had fantastic weather and the support at the event was as good as it ever gets.

Next up is the Furnace Creek 508, in less than 2 weeks!

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I finished, along with a limited group of 300 cyclists, stage 4 of the Tour of Utah, called the 300 Warriors. It was a great experience to ride a stage of a pro race on the same day when all the route signs were up (such as “KOM 5K”), and some of the people who had assembled early for the race cheering you on. Although the roads were not closed for us, we had a police escort for the first 15 miles.

We were the citizen riders so we started at 6 am on Saturday, 4 hours ahead of the professional riders. The 99 mile course started the 14,788 feet of climbing in Park City, Utah, traveled over to Midway, down Provo Canyon, then up over the Alpine Loop. We went down American Fork Canyon, over Suncrest to the Salt Lake Valley, took local roads over to Little Cottonwood Canyon, then the last big climb, up to Snowbird Ski Resort.

The 300 riders started in the dark. Even though it was August, it was cold, around 42 degrees. The route took us from Park City over a hilly course to Kamas then to Midway. After making one climb we had a very fast descent. It was too dark to see my speed, but when I checked my HRM later, it was 41 mph in the dark! I was hanging with the lead riders then, but the group was growing smaller with each climb. I stayed with them for about 25 miles. I was too far back in the peleton on a climb when I noticed a gap was opening up ahead of the riders in front of me. I made my way around the riders who were dropping off but I could not quite catch the leaders before they went over the crest. From that point I rode the course mostly sole, occasionally getting with one or two other riders for a few miles. After 33 miles I made it into Midway, averaging 21.5 mph, which was fast considering we had climbed over 1500 feet.

Ann drove SAG but I didn’t feel she needed to follow the course. After taking us to the ride start, she headed over to Midway where she was was waiting when I arrived. I made a very quick stop, just long enough to fill my water bottle and remove some of the clothes I had been wearing due to the cold temperatures at the start. Since we had been advise to not have the SAG’s try to go over the Alpine Loop, she then was able to head home for a short period then head over for the second meeting place at mile 70 on the route.

I was able to catch two other riders leaving Midway. Since we had 11 miles on highway 189, with a lot of traffic, I was hoping to ride with others to be more visible, but I eventually went ahead of the others. The ride from Midway to the start of the Alpine loop was more rollers. I reached the turn up the canyon faster than I expected, averaging 21 mph. The climb up the Alpine loop took me 1:05. I was keeping my heart rate down to the mid 150′s, knowing we had a lot of climbing ahead. After reaching the summit, at over 8,000 feet, we had a fast descent down American Fork Canyon. We were being held up by some cars driving down and had to make our way around some of them when we had a clear view. A few miles after reaching the valley, I arrived at the second meeting place where Ann was waiting.

She filled my water bottles and handed me a PBJ sandwich, which I ate as I took off again.

I felt I had enough to finish from there and so she headed to the finish at Snowbird. I turned right up Suncrest and reached the summit in 31 minutes. It was then a steep downhill to the Salt Lake Valley. Once I reached Wasatch Blvd, it was the start of a lot of climbing as I made my way to Little Cottonwood Canyon.

From there it was a very difficult climb. The grade was a bit steeper than Metcalf, and it seemed to go forever.

Maybe it was the miles at speed on my legs, but I had to grind it out. It took me 1:15 to reach the finish.

I finished in 6:29, which was 30 minutes faster than my goal. The pro winner of the race came in at 4:15. Some other well know pros were Oscar Sevilla at 4:17, Tom Danielson at 4:19 and Tyler Hamilton at 4:27. Danny Pate, Will Frischkorn and Freddy Rodrigues did not make the time cut. I was happy I was able to complete the 98 miles and 14,778 feet of climbing under 6 and half hours.

After eating lunch, we headed back to the finish where Ann and I waited for the Pros to arrive and so we could take their photos.

See full blog entry.

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