New Details on Tour of Utah "Ultimate Challenge"

On Tuesday, I questioned whether the 1,000 Warriors road race would continue in 2010. As it turns out, it looks like the equivalent of last year's 1,000 Warriors will continue as an organized ride called the "Ultimate Challenge." Check out the Tour of Utah's website for updated details. It won't be an official race but the route will be the same, beginning in Park City and finishing at Snowbird after climbing the Alpine Loop and Suncrest (96 miles and 10K of climbing).

Here's my GPS track from the 2009 race:

So, mark your calendars for Saturday, August 14th. I think it will be a great training ride for PCP2P and Lotoja.

Oxygen Deprivation

Today after work I did some intervals on the water tank road in Orem above the cemetery*. 2 min. 15 seconds each going pretty much as hard as I could handle. It was painful. The type of pain where your lungs burn, your front teeth tingle and even after you stop, there's about a 15 second period where you basically collapse on the handlebars and gasp for air. Then there's the nausea.

*For the locals, the road is in good shape (not muddy) until just before the last steep grade before the top. After that it starts to get soft and rutted from trucks going through the mud. I wonder how much longer till we'll be riding the single track? Next week's weather will hopefully hurry that along.

I was surprised at how hard it is to sustain an intense effort for just over 2 minutes. You see, in my mind, prior to doing these intervals, I was thinking and maybe trying to convince myself that two minutes is so short when compared to the long rides on the bike. The reality is that when you're anaerobic (without air), 2 minutes seems like an eternity.

I read an article the other day in which a cycling coach said he believes that the best cyclists are those that can tolerate pain the most, specifically referring to the pain that's inflicted when completing these intervals. Makes sense. If you don't ever put in the hard work, you'll limit your level of fitness and ability on the bike. On the flip side, you have to make sure you don't over train. I like that.

We'll see how it goes for me. I'm planning to do some sort of structured interval training at least once per week and hopefully twice per week as I get stronger and as the season progresses.

2010 Tour of Utah - 1,000 Warriors Dead?

Yesterday, the Tour of Utah issued a press release on the dates for its 2010 stage race. It'll begin on August 17th with the prologue and end with the Park City to Snowbird stage on Sunday, August 22nd*.

*I may just have to sneak out the back door of church to see the pro peloton zip by on the climb up Suncrest. Actually, the best place to watch would be on the descent of the Alpine Loop at that first hairpin turn below the summit. I'd like to see how fast they can handle that corner.

And regarding the related infamous "1,000 Warriors Race" that I rode in last year, it looks like per the release that there are more details to come as to what type of race (or ride?) this will shape up to be:

"The Tour of Utah will also include a non-competitive ride for enthusiast** cyclists the Saturday before called "The Ultimate Challenge." Detailed information for The Ultimate Challenge will be released soon."

**What's up with the use of the word "enthusiast" cyclists. Come on! Give us more credit than that. How about amateur racers? That sounds much better. When I think of enthusiast cyclists, I think of the ladies that sign up for the 20 mile annual AF donut ride or whatever it's called.

Anyhow, based on the name, "The Ultimate Challenge" I'm assuming/hoping it will be something similar to last year, except that if the route includes the Alpine Loop, I'm confident that this year the organizers and UDOT will be smart enough to close the road for a couple of hours. I did notice that cyclingutah.com has a "Tour of Utah Amateur Criterium" on its calendar for August 21st, but I can't imagine a crit being described as "The Ultimate Challenge." Stay tuned.

New Bike

I finally took the plunge and bought a high-end road bike. I've been riding an enthusiast level Trek with a triple crank for the past 2 years. It served me well but it was definitely time to upgrade. My new ride is a 56" 2009 Specialized Tarmac S-Works SL2 with SRAM Red. The wheels are Roval Fusée SL E5's (1,450 grams in case you're interested), the crank is the S-Works FACT carbon 53 x 39t and the pedals are Look Keo 2 Max Carbon. I'm a little concerned about the 11 X 26t cassette paired with the 53 X 39t crank, especially when I like to climb and I weigh 185.....okay, I lied I'm really 187 but soon I'll be 185 if I could just stop eating so much on the weekends. Fortunately, I already have a Dura Ace 7900 12 X 28t cassette that I picked up on eBay that I'll probably swap out. I'm pretty sure I'll need the extra 2 teeth about the time I'm climbing past Mutual Dell on the Alpine Loop.

This all ads up to bike weighing a mere 15.4 pounds! I know, I know, it's an expensive way to drop four pounds when I could instead pay a really good trainer to help me shed 20 pounds from my gut. I guess now with a nice bike, I have no more excuses for being slow.

I took the bike out yesterday for a long Saturday ride. This was my fourth time on the bike and by the end of the ride, I was finally becoming comfortable with the aggressive geometry of a race bike. My first ride was earlier in the week up the south side of Suncrest and on the descent I was very tentative as I wasn't used to being so low in the drops. Overall the bike has a very fast, stiff, crisp and responsive ride feel and I'm looking forward to many good rides on it this season.

Bike maintenance

Tonight after work I stopped by the LBS and bought a new chain for my road bike. I've known my bike was due for a new chain for a while but never got around to purchasing one. I hate to admit it, since it reflects my lack of attention to maintenance, but my chain probably has 3,000+ miles on it. Way past due. I also picked up a chain tool. I was surprised how easy it is to remove the chain. You simply lay the chain in the tool, tighten the threads on the driver pin and out pops the chain's connecting pin. Installing the new chain is easy too, except that I wasn't thinking about chain length (doh) until after I had the chain connected and noticed it was sagging against the rear derailleur cage like this:

I took out a few links, connected it back again and thought I was done. Not so fast. See the problem with procrastinating the maintenance on your chain is that it causes other parts to wear quickly, like the cassette. This became apparent when the new chain started hopping down to the next smaller rear chain ring whenever I back pedaled the crank as a result of the cogs worn to the point that the new chain wouldn't match up properly. So, now I'm going to have to purchase a new cassette.

This little lesson on bike maintenance reminds me of something a guy told me the other night while I was doing a church financial audit at one of the local wards. We were discussing how the church finances are simple to keep straight as long as you do the little things each month to stay on top of things. He commented how he tells his daughter that "it's much easier to keep things clean than to clean them up."

Isn't that so true with many things in life. The little things we do or don't do on a consistent basis whether it be mechanical maintenance like timely changing the oil in your car or replacing your chain on your bike or maybe physical maintenance like eating healthy or exercising daily if neglected end up resulting in big problems down the road. No, not earth shattering stuff....just common sense, but sometimes it's good to be reminded of these things. So, please, do yourself a favor and make sure you change your chain more frequently than I did.

St. George

I packed up the SUV Thursday after work and headed south to St. George for the long weekend. We had a great time as a family playing in the sun* and I was able to squeeze in some bike rides in the morning.

*We stayed at a Pelican Hills condo which I highly recommend. The condo itself was fabulous and the clubhouse/HOA facilities included a theater room with plush leather recliner chairs (very nice), an outdoor pool that was heated, a nice big deep hot tub and tennis courts.

Saturday morning I got up early and rode Barrel Roll, which is located just minutes from Santa Clara. I was planning to ride for several hours but ended up getting a hole in the side wall of my rear tire just before finishing one lap. Even though my plans were cut short, I had a blast and the weather was fabulous. If I were to ride Barrel Roll again, I'd probably park my car in Santa Clara and climb up the dirt road for a better cardio workout as there was a decent climb from the paved road to the trail head.

View from the top of the Barrel Roll loop:



There were a few tricky spots that I found challenging and fun to try until I was able to clear. I rode the loop counterclockwise. Next time I'll probably go clockwise.

On Saturday I headed out early again and did a loop on the road bike that went through Gunlock, up to Veyo (that last climb before Veyo felt good) and then descended into St. George. Along the way, I rode for a few miles with a guy named Jason who is training for the St. George Ironman Triathlon in May. I have a huge amount of respect for these people, including some of my good friends, who are training for the Ironman. I have a hard time comprehending the sacrifice and effort it takes to prepare for and finish an Ironman triathlon. Jason for example was doing a 1/2 ironman that day or 1 mile swim, 66 mile bike and 13 mile run. Hats off to them....I don't really have any desire to put myself through that much pain.

Here's the volcano near Veyo. This part of the loop is deceiving because you're thinking it's all downhill from here, but the climbing seems to continue on and on. It'll make for a challenging Ironman bike leg.


Snow Canyon:

Snowshoe Video

On Saturday I opted for the snowshoes instead of the bike. I wasn't disappointed except that next time I'll pack the Superfly 29er too and go for a post snowshoe climb up the Alpine Loop from Pine Hollow. There were lots of snowmobiles, so the road was packed pretty good.

AF Canyon - Pine Hollow Snowshoe from bjchild on Vimeo.