Tired and hungry...

Hi All! Well, another weekend of solid training is in the books. Nothing out of the ordinary, so here we go...

Yesterday I drove out to Palomar Mountain, straight up South Grade Road, and parked at the summit next to Mother's Kitchen. The plan was to meet my friend Rogelio there at 8am, and get some good solid climbing in, in the form of repeats. Yes, I said repeats on Palomar! 8am came and went, and no sign of Rogelio, so I got dressed threw the bottles on the bike, and as I went to mount my Garmin on the handlebars, it was then I realized I forgot it at home! For those of you who train with a computer, (most), and those who train using heart rate, not having a computer can really be a bummer. I decided not to let it ruin my ride, after all, I knew exactly what the workout was going to be, how long the climbs were, and how much elevation gain I'd get for the day. Of course there was more to it then that!

I decided to start by descending South Grade Road all the way to the market at the junction of Highway 76 and Valley Center Road. I'm not fond of the climb up Highway 76 to South Grade, but I figured it was better to do it while it was early in the morning and the traffic was light. When I reached the market, I stopped for a quick restroom break, hopped on the bike, and began the climb back to the summit. I decided not to push the pace too hard knowing that I had a lot of climbing planned for the day, and the goal wasn't to see how fast I could do the climbs, but rather to get some serious elevation gain.

I reached South Grade Road and settled in for the remaining seven miles to the summit. About three miles in to the climb, Rogelio came descending by me on the other side of the road. I decided to turn around and follow him back down to the intersection of South Grade and 76 where he was going to start climbing.

When we reached the summit we shot down East Grade Road to Highway 76, turned around and began climbing back to the top. About two miles in to the climb, I drank the last sip of water in my bottles, and it was then that I realized I made a huge mistake by deciding not to refill my bottles when we were on the summit. It was hot Saturday on the mountain, 90 degrees at the top, and 101 at the bottom! I knew I had a little over nine miles left to reach the summit, and I was already extremely thirsty.

After what seemed like forever, I finally reached the top, and went straight to the market to buy some Gatorade and some water for my bottles. I downed the Gatorade and some potato chips, filled one bottle with water, and then back down South Grade Road we went to Highway 76.

As we started up South Grade Road for the last climb of the day, I could feel the fatigue setting in my legs. My first ascent up the road earlier in the day, was much quicker then what I was holding this time. I was taking frequent sips off my bottle, and even resorted to pouring some water over my head occasionally. About three miles from the summit, the muscles in my inner thighs began to quiver. I knew what this meant. Cramps were sure to follow. I began alternating between climbing while seated and standing, to see if using different muscles would help ward off the cramps. Two miles from the summit, the cramps hit! I was no longer able to pedal, every time I would bend my legs, the cramps would strike. All I could do was pull over and straighten out my legs. I slowly walked my way up to a shady spot on the road, and just relaxed.

About five minutes later, Rogelio came pedaling up to where I was. I told him I was cramping, and asked him what time it was. A little after 1:30pm he said. No wonder I'm cramping! I've been pedaling for over five hours in this heat, and only drank three bottles! This is when I realized just how valuable my computer is when riding. I always have it set on "time" mode, so I can see how long I've been pedaling, and to remind myself when to drink. A bottle an hour at minimum is what I shoot for, more if it's really hot out.

Eventually I made it back to the car. 68 miles, 34 of them climbing. 11,300ft. A little over 5 hours. I was tired!

Today...four hours with John Bailey and Warren, up Highland Valley Road to Ramona, and back home. 65 miles, 4500ft, and 2000 calories. I got dropped more times then I can count! That tends to happen when you ride with a Cat 1, and an extremely strong Masters racer, especially if you just did Palomar repeats the day before!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Until next time...