Good Bye Blogger!

As of May 1, 2010, Blogger will not support blogs on remote servers via the ftp protocol. As such, this will be my last Blogger entry.

I am working on a new blog at www.onyourleft.net/wp/

Posted 9:20 PM by John Henry

Deschutes River Valley Time Trail Festival

Posted 9:41 PM by John Henry

Deschutes River Valley Time Trail

What have I gotten myself into?

Three time trials in two day?
All with hills!
And the last one being longer than any ride I have done since my accident!

Ride plan: Stage One - 27 miles with over 2000 feet of gain. Fun.
I have ridden this route many times during the Ring of Fire Time Trial - it is the night loop. It starts hard with a 1000 foot climb from the Deschutes River to the plateau above the town of Maupin. I intend to take this very easy keeping my heart rate below 145 beats per minute. The morning will be very cold, but the hill should warm me up.

Crossing the plateau I intend to pick up my effort and let my heart rate climb. I will recover during the descent into Tygh Valley and then work to keep my speed up along the vally floor.

At the far end of the valley, the route turns to the east onto hwy 216. This section is rollie, so I will back off and let my heart rate drop to 145, except for the two short hills. At the end of this section is a longer but not too steep hill before a rapid descent toward Shearer's Bridge. I intend to increase my effort on the hill and recover during the descent.

The last section of the route is flat. This is where I intend to ride as hard as I can back toward the start/finish line. Goal: 1:21 or 3 minute miles or 20 miles per hour average. But 1:25 is probably where I will come in at.

Ride plan: Stage Two - 8 miles up hill. No rest and no mercy.

I have never been on this road, but looking at the profile, it is up hill all of the way. It gains about 1800 feet in 8 miles, just over a 4% average.

My plan is to take my heart rate to 150 and keep it there for the entire ride. Goal: 40 minutes - 5 minute miles or 12 mph.

Ride plan: Stage Three - Bakeoven Road - 50 miles of up and down. The first seven mils is steep, and then it gently stair steps for the balance of the climb. Then you turn around, and fight the wind all of the way down. Fun.

My goal: survival - no more, no less. In other words, I do not know my I can expect our of myself on this stage. Since this stage is so long, I will try to keep my heart rate to 140 during the climb.

Posted 9:41 PM by John Henry

Week Update

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Posted 9:33 PM by John Henry

Estacade Time Trial

On a bright and sunny Sunday, I drove to Estacada for the 20 mile time trial along the Clackamas River. My start time was just before noon, so Joanne and I arrived about an hour early, giving me plenty of time to warm up. We parked the van next to Mark Zielinski, Rick Kercheski and Phil Litchfield. But once I was on the trainer, I was focused inward. My goal was to finish the twenty miles in under an hour. I thought I could do it, but I would have to work hard.

With just a few minutes before my start time, I rolled out of the upper parking lot and headed to the start. I declined the "time trial hold" as I am still a bit skittish about my recently healed broken leg.

The course is flat to start with, but within the first few hundred feet, there is a small hill, placed there just to show you that the course will not be completely flat. I knew this hill would hurt on the way back, and by the faces of racers who were finishing, I was right.

I never saw my minute man; I had no rabbit for the first four miles. I brought my heart rate up to 150+ beats per minute and held it there. After the small hill at the beginning, the course is mostly flat for several miles. I stayed within myself and I thought I was having a good ride.

I intended to press the "lap" button on my Garmin Edge 305 every mile so I could see how many minutes each mile was taking me. One problem: I was in a river valley with steep cliffs on each side. My Garmin lost contact with the GPS satellites. Oh well.

After four miles, Rick, who started two minutes behind me, passed me offering encouragement as he did so. I felt some of his power, and picked up my speed just a little bit to keep him is sight. I managed to do so for about a mile or two, but Rick finally pulled away from my sight.

Rick had warned me about a hill that was at the seven mile mark. He was right. My speed dropped to the low teens, and my heart rate rose well above my lactate threshold. But I crossed over the top and enjoyed the small descent down to the turn around. Yes, I peddled down the hill. I usally cosat down hills in my Ultras, but this race was only twenty miles, and I need to make up some time!

The return was hard. Now I had some wind to ride against, and my heart rate showed that I was putting more effort into peddling. Surprisingly, the small hill that marked the end of the race came upon me sooner that I thought. I hit the hill hard knowing that once I crossed over, it the finishing line was just a few hundred feet away. My heart rate rose to it maximum of the day, 179 beats per minutes. And yes, I was very happy to cross the finishing line.

My time was 58:56, over a minutes below my goal. My average speed of 20.36 was higher than my average speed for the last As the Raven Flies TT (19.42).

Posted 8:52 PM by John Henry