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| I did it!! |
I did not know something like this existed. But while training for Napa century ride last year someone mentioned about it. My initial thought was that's just nuts. Who does that. I mean I don't even know if i can finish a century ride in one day let alone 5.5 back to back century rides in 7 days. More power to nuts who do it. I am never doing it.. As i was planning out all the races this year, I suddenly remembered about this ride. I was looking for a new challenge on bike. Yes doing a century ride is challenging, infact very challenging. But I had already done it and i was looking for something more than that. I went through ALC website and figured out how this thing works and I registered for it on 26th Nov.. While registering I had no clue what I am getting myself into or neither how to train for such a ride. Only thing I knew was it would involve a LOT of biking. And that should be lot of fun.
One good thing about having an good coach by your side is you don't have to worry about the how part..that's their job :) All you do is blindly follow the plan and believe it will work out in the end. When I mentioned about it to her I think her first reaction was pretty similar to lot of other people..he has completely lost it ;) but I insisted I wanted to do it and I manged to convince her. The other part of the puzzle was this was not the only thing i was training for. I had 2 half marathons and 1 full marathon (OO crap I still haven't written a race report for it) to tackle before we even get to this ride. Again, not my problem. That's a coach problem to train me through it :) My job was to simply follow the plan.
Looking back at the training logs right from December until the ride I think it was not that much biking as I had thought. Yes I did biked on an average 3-4 times a week, 2-3 weekday rides and 1 weekend ride (Other days being the run days). But most weekday rides were between only 60-90 minutes on bike trainer. But those rides were very hard focused rides. Not the usual picnic/leisure rides that I use to do last year while training for Napa century. Weekend rides were the long rides. Since I had a group of friends who were training for death ride ( the other set of nut people) I decided to do those long rides with them for two reasons 1) Doing long rides alone is boring and I have the tendency to get lost if I don't ride with group...I still do but chances are less..and if I do they will find me..lol 2) They would be doing a LOT of climbing. This would be perfect to build leg strength further. I did western pacific marathon on 4th may (again please remind me to write a report...at least scribble whatever I remember now). From that point until the ride my training focus was biking. Yes I did run bit here and there but it was mostly biking.
My biggest training block was two weeks before the actual ride where I did two back to back century rides on a weekend. 102 miles with 10k+ ft elevation on Saturday and 104 miles with 4k+ elevation in extremely hot weather on Sunday. What i wanted to see how i feel after doing back to back long rides because this is what I will have to deal with on the actual ride for 7 days...Those ride did go well except for last 10 miles on Sunday. I pretty much had to drag my a** to my car and it took me two days to overcome the soreness. That was probably the first time self doubt crept in that may be i underestimated the ride, may be I don't have that kind of biking experience or biking legs but then it was too late to back out. Everything was already in place: Donations raised, return tickets booked etc.
3 days before the ride coach emailed me to check if I had thought about a plan for each day. Until that time I did not know the exact miles on each day. I looked at the ALC website that evening. Holy crap!! Riding 7 days was a challenge in itself for me but riding 82.5,109.2, 66.7, 97.7, 42, 84.3, 60.7 miles was completely on a different level in my mind. My reply was simple. I am freaking out. I don't want to think beyond 1 day. I will think about the next day when i am done with one
Her reply:
Trust yourself, trust your training and most of all, remember - this is a fun one. Yes, it will be hard toward the end, but that is what makes it fun, when you work through all of those tough places and come out on the other side a stronger athlete and person.
Boyaah!! I read this email atleast 20 times in last 3 days. Whenever I got a negative thought I would read it. Most of all I convinced myself this is NOT a race its a ride. I have trained hard and I am ready. Go out and have fun. Going into ride plan was simple. Take each day as it comes. LA is far. Don't worry about next day. Ride with lower HR and as much as high cadence possible. Also, eat LOT of carbs every night and hydrate hydrate hydrate alot on the ride and after the ride.
Ride day came and there I was with 2200 other anxious riders at cow palace in daly city bright and early at 5 AM. Orientation finished and we all rode out to a large cheers at 7ish.
Day 1 was probably the toughest day in my view. When you ride out of San Francisco you are bound to hit lot of hills. So until lunch point (when we were out of SF) it was relentless rolling hills. Other issue was everyone started at the same time. Imagine 2200 people going through single traffic light. Sometimes I had to wait for 4-5 times until I crossed the single light. Frustrating!! But once we were out of SF we started to settle down in our paces and riders spread out. Also, now we were on highway 1. No more lights and amazing views of ocean. Our first camp site was Santa Cruz. At the last part of the ride I was starting to have a very nagging knee pain. As the ride finished I was really worried. Wow! its only day 1 I am already having knee issues. I immediately checked with the medical staff. It turned out my IT band was really tight and that was causing the pain and I was advised to make foam roller my best friend for next 6 days.
Day 1: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454780
Day 2 was one of the longest day on the ride. 106 miles. More than the distance it was the heat that worried me. It was suppose to be a super HOT day with a very
Day 2: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454637
Day 3 was relatively short with 66 miles but nicked name "Quadbuster". With all the hill training that I did with DR people i was relatively ready to tackle any sort of hill. The hill itself was not that bad. It was just a long and relatively steep climb. With fresh legs that would be a easy climb but with ~200 miles already on the bike it did took some effort to get up. Rest of day was again long rolling hills with strong head wind towards the end. Our day 3 camp site was Paso robles
Day 3: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454538
Day 4 was another long day on the saddle. 94 miles of fun. From Paso Robles to Santa Maria. Two long climbs nick named "evil twin sister climb". More importantly, at the end of second climb we would have reached half way to LA. Again, with fresh legs those would be easy climbs for me but after 3 days of riding and less than ideal recovery those hills were bit of a challenge. I finally made it to the top huffing and puffing. That was the time it dawned on me. Wow!! I am half way through. Am I tired. May be. But more importantly am I having fun..a whole lot of it. After couple of pictures it was back to business on bike. There were lot of miles left after twin sister climb. It was important to stay on top of nutrition and hydration and finish another day strong. I kept reminding that to myself all along the way and soon enough I finished day 4
Day 4: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454417
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| Half way vista point |
Day 5 was the shortest and most fun day of the ride. Red dress day. Its hard to describe it in words. Its like fancy dress competition among bikers :) I will leave it there and you can judge from the video. It was short day but again had two LONG climbs. Nobody talks about those climbs in all the red dress excitement until you start climbing them. Then comes out all the swearing, huffing and puffing.
Day 5: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454312
Day 5 ended quite early and we finally had some time to relax. For me that translated into more foam rolling, stretching and socializing. Day 6 was another relatively long day. 88 miles of fun. Our last day camp site was Ventura beach. Awesome. Camping on beach. Sounds awesome but we need to ride 88 miles before that. Most of my ride was uneventful with lot of time smiling, talking to fellow riders and thanking/hi-fing local's who came out to support the riders
Day 6: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454244
When day 6 ended it finally hit me. I have done it. OK we had 60 miles still left for the last day. But it was only 60 miles. My legs were sore and tired but it did not matter. I was just happy and ready to end this ride strong and with a smile. As we entered LA, my heart was beating really high. I could feel the excitement. I started seeing lot more people on the road side cheering us. Lot more people honking at us. As I made the final turn there was a HUGE crowd to welcome us. Rockstar moment!! One big fist pump and it finally dawned on me. Yes I did it. I have rode 545 miles from SF to LA in 7 days. Its hard to describe such feelings in words. Pure Bliss. Those are the moments you look forward to. When all your training, hard work pays off.
Day 7: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454174
For all the number nerds out there.here is small snapshot of entire ride combined
Distance: 540.29 miles
Elevation gain: 20,614 ft
Avg Speed: 14.91 miles per hour
Avg Cadence: 84 rpm
The entire adventure was just amazing. To see myself grow in confidence from 3 days before the ride when i was thinking what i have got myself into to the belief that i was truly trained and super ready for it was a new kind of feeling. With each passing day my confidence just grew stronger and stronger. I was also amazed with the fact on all the days I was 50-60th rider to finish the ride. No I was not racing nor i cared about it. I know this from the fact every day when we ride into the camp site the volunteer would speak your number loudly so that other volunteer can note it down. This way they kept track of how many people have safely made it to the camp site. But every day that number further re-assured me that i was truly ready both physically and mentally for the ride. I was also amazed with what my body could handle without breaking down. Except for that first day scare I never had to go to medical tent. I rode the entire ride and I never had to take the SAG vehicle to the camp site. This ride has definitely given me sort of new self belief. Now, I truly believe we are all capable of doing more than we think we can if we put our mind to it.
So that explains one part of my ride experience. But there was much more that happened on the ride. Something that just touched me very deeply. The ALC Community. For that one week every one on the ride was there with single mission: To raise awareness about HIV, To ride, help each other finish the ride and be warm and welcoming irrespective of gender, sex or sexual orientation. From volunteers who worked tirelessly for long hours with a big smile before riders arrived at the camp site and after they left and catering to their smallest needs when they were on the camp site, medical staff who took utmost care of all the riders who needed help, all the volunteers on the road who would stand at each turn to guide and cheer the riders, all the volunteers at each of the rest stop who would dress up to entertain us, all the honks and cheers from the local people as we rolled through the towns. For that one week I met some amazing people who had very touching stories, some uber fast yet very humble cyclists, some of the most welcoming and friendly people. In fact, i fell in love with the community so much that on day 5 itself I registered for the ride next year. Not for the challenge but to do my bit for the community that cared so much for us when we were there... Their tag line is so true-"You belong here". You only realize that once you experience it.
Points I need to remember for next year:
1) When coach says eat lot of carbs..it has to be done wisely. I started the ride thinking i might end up loosing 3-4 pounds but I ended up gaining 1 pound at the end of 7 days. No kidding. Carbo loading is good. Carbo overloading is not good.
2) Carry marathon stick in the bike jersey to stretch IT band. One muscle that just kept getting tight all the time
3) When you carry sun screen in the bike jersey you have to use it. Otherwise, there is chance people might not recognize you after the ride like this time around.
4) Beat my each day time by at least 20 mins (At the end of it I am still very competitive at heart :))
Red Dress Day video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpDDVxW8SdE
Entire Ride Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg3G9-a1kH8
Some pictures I took with my cell phone:
https://plus.google.com/photos/116684896749330648209/albums/5887932805602024849?authkey=CP3-oM-8v8eLPQ
Now that this adventure is over. It back to my first love, running !! One of my goals this year was to break 1:50 at half marathon distance. In the previous two attempts this year i have come very close to it. 1:51 at Norcal half and 1:52 at Oakland half but I haven't been able to break it. Its about time I break it. Next up Napa to Sonoma half marathon, followed by Chicago marathon and CIM marathon. sub 1:50 or bust ?? Wait and watch!!
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