Summer Base
I'm doing an organized ride this week - the Bicycle Tour of Colorado. 400+ miles in 6 days and all in the mountains. I've noticed several competitive riders and teams doing the tour. A few triathletes, also. What a great way to rebuild base fitness after the first (or second) A-priority race of the season. Lots of climbing to re-establish force and lots of zone 2, aerobic, steady state. Perfect. And someone else takes care of shuttling all of your gear and provides feed zones along the way. I'd highly recommend it as a way of kicking off the second half of the season. Of course, you would need another 4-8 weeks after it's over to increase the specificity of a Build period in preparation for the next A-race of the year.
posted by Joe Friel @ 6:03 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
I'd be interested to hear which climb you thought was the toughest. Since I imagine you're familiar with Colorado cycling, which climb do you think is the toughest in the state?
Anon--For last week's ride the toughest day was certainly the first starting in Durango and going over 3 passes in 71 miles. The most challenging of these climbs was the last--Red Mountain Pass topping out at 11,200 feet. In two weeks I'm doing the Triple Bypass--120 miles with 3 passes over 10,500 feet. The second climb that day is one of the toughest in the state, I believe--Loveland Pass at 11,990 feet. As for races, the hardest climb I've ever done in Colorado is Magnolia Road coming out of Boulder. Gaining about 2500 feet in 5 miles it averages 10%. If you make the mistake of going the short route around each switch back (of which there are many) you are on a 20% or so grade. I've never seen so many riders tacking on a climb as this one. So it's my vote for the hardest climb even though it's not particularly long or high (about 8000 feet at top of climb).
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