The Rapha Rising Challenge: A Little Bit of Cramming for PBP

Like clockwork, the Rapha Rising Challenge appears each year in the third week of July to coincide with some of the most epic climbing stages of the TdF.  This year, though, I was unable to lock in any of the details despite several attempts, so I figured they made a shift at Rapha HQ. As I've said before, I'm a sucker for a good challenge. If I know that a group of cyclists are off somewhere trying to do something possibly not possible, I have a hard time not joining in. Throw in a patch and I'm there! As luck would have it, I happened to be scanning Instagram a week ago Saturday and found that #rapharising had begun that very day. The challenge? Climb 9366 meters (30,728 feet) in 8 days. What could be so tough about that?

Climbing is good training. On this there is no debate. Ever wonder why the winner of the Tour de France is always a good climber? In part because being good at climbing makes you good at other things, too. It's also easy for a good climber to put some serious distance on a poor climber, but that's another story. I love that I live in a hilly area because I've found that riding hills can often make up for limited time on the bike. My general equation is that as a ride shortens, it needs to go vertical. Climbing this much in a week would hopefully make the hills of Brittany a bit easier to roll over next month.

It occurred to me more than once while I was riding this week that 30,728 feet is a respectable cruising altitude for a 747. It's almost 6 miles above the Earth! To climb this high on my bike was going to take some planning. Since I was working this week and needed to take care of a few important family jobs, I didn't have endless time to get this done. As a result, I chose some of the steepest hills in the area and rode up and down them multiple times. Since I live near a ridgeline with multiple hills, this wasn't as monotonous as it sounds, and doing a few hours a day of hill riding put me in some very lovely spots.

My planning wasn't perfect, though. On the final day of the challenge, I awoke with over 8200 feet left to climb! To make matters worse, it was raining with thunderstorms in the area. I had risen at 5:00 am to get out and finish things off in the first half of the day by riding over the Shawangunk Ridge in New Paltz multiple times, but when I got there in my car the storm had actually picked up intensity and the entire mountain was shrouded in fog. This was not looking like a particularly safe way to train for PBP, so I threw in the towel and drove home. Who needs a stinking patch anyway? After sitting in bed reading the paper for a few hours, I saw the sun poking through the clouds and threw on my kit and rode out the door to hit the ridge a bit closer to home.

As a result, my profile looked like this:

All in all, I slipped in under the wire. My patch should be here when I get back from Paris.

The Rapha Rising Challenge: Up, Down, Repeat.

I do love a good challenge and 8,800 meters (or 28,871 feet) of climbing is nothing to sneeze at, especially if you need to complete the goal within nine days. As with most endurance cycling challenges, though, it was not the riding that made matters so difficult, it was finding the time and navigating professional and personal waters to successfully get it all done. Having just returned from a four-day trip to undertake the Lap of the Lake 1000K, I've been working through a backlog of professional and household projects that makes it difficult for me to get out and ride for sustained periods of time.

As a result, I sought to ride the hilliest roads I could find within the shortest distance from my house. In other words, to get this done, I needed to be either going up or going down a hill. No flatlands for me. Anything lateral was a waste of time. Up, down, repeat.

All told, I completed the Challenge by climbing 31,689 feet in 265 miles, which involves climbing an average of 120 feet per mile. Phew! While my plan did not strictly involve a series of hill repeats, I did make quite a few out-and-back trips over the local ridge line. For my last big day of climbing, for instance, I crossed the Mohonk ridge six times collecting 5211 feet in just 32 miles or about 165 vertical feet per mile. 

I think Strava should award a special honor to those riders who cover the greatest vertical distance over the shortest lateral distance. It's the ratio that's important, isn't it?

Finally, at the top of the Popletown climb (yes, they spelled it wrong not me) I spied this interesting and cryptic sign. Apparently, there is some French hill-climbing group in the area of which I am unaware. I should keep my eyes out for them, though, as I'm sure they'd make good training partners, especially as we all gear up for Paris-Brest-Paris in 2015.

Up next: a Catskills 200K permanent is in the works for the end of the week.

Rapha Rising Challenge: A Great Day for Up!

Like most endurance cyclists, I respond well to a challenge. An organized challenge says to me, “other people are crazy enough to do this, what’s wrong with you?” It's hard not to take the bait, especially when the competition between participants is minimal and the main emphasis is on completion of the task itself, which on a good challenge is just a little bit harder than is comfortably easy to execute. In this way, I find the Rapha Festive 500 (winter) and Rapha Rising (summer) challenges a lot like randonneuring in general. Complete the challenge, get a free patch (and maybe some modest bragging rights). What could be better?

As Dr. Suess has written, it's a "great day today! Great day for Up!"

This is my second year participating in the Rapha Rising Challenge (RRC), which is scheduled to coincide with a week of major climbing on the Tour De France. This year, we have nine days to climb 8800 meters (28,871 feet), which is roughly the amount of climbing the pros will encounter on three major Tour stages this week. The rules are simple: Ride your bike and upload your GPS tracks to Strava. Unfortunately, the exchange rate between Garmin and Strava is currently not running in my favor, so it looks like I will need to climb an extra 5% to meet the minimum, but I guess I'm the one who benefits, right?

As any realtor will tell you, finding a good home involves three important variables: location, location and location. I would argue that more than school district, tax levy and proximity to shopping, serious cyclists should calculate exactly how long it will take them to be riding on fine roads after clipping in right outside their back door. While we live on a major road, which is great for my wife’s business and safe travel during the snows of winter, I can reach a network of delicious low-traffic hilly roads that stretch on into infinity within 200 feet of my driveway. As a result, I am never further than 5 minutes from an amazing ride and never need to drive to the start.

When I say these roads are quiet, I mean QUIET. It is not uncommon for me to ride for hours without being passed by a soul. On yesterday’s ride, for instance, I rode without seeing a car for the first hour and fifteen minutes at which point I was passed by a flotilla of tree-pruning vehicles on their way to an important assignment. After that, all was still and quiet again for another hour. Here's a rundown of the week so far:

Day One: Rapha Rising Prologue. This particular Saturday was a busy day in our household with my son heading off for a week of camp in the early afternoon. As a result, I was only able to steal away for fewer than two hours to ride so I clipped in and sought out the closest hills to my back door. (19 miles; 2627 ft.)

Day Two: On day two, I crossed both the Shaupeneak and Shawangunk Ridges for a total of six noticeable climbs. If I didn't have a pile of household chores to do I would have ridden all day, but this was a good start. (42 miles; 4021 ft.)

Day Three: Tight on time again, I simply traversed the Shaupeneak Ridge four times in what I refer to as the Popletown Quadruple Bipass hitting each of the major hills four times. Luckily the terrain is varied enough on this short ride that I did not get bored. (27 miles; 3776 ft.)

Staying away from my bike for a full week after LOL provided me with just the rest I needed to return to cycling with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. As a result, the first several days of the RRC have been quite enjoyable. We'll see how these legs hold up as the week continues. More soon.

Of Roundels and Recovery

There's nothing quite like getting a trinket in the mail to commemorate past suffering, so I was very pleased to see the small telltale black envelope from London when I returned from vacation earlier this week. My roundel (this one in the form of a patch) brings me a warm feeling of pride and serves as a symbol of both the persistence and determination I brought to the #rapharising challenge.

After this concentrated bout of climbing, my rides have been of the recovery sort: decidedly flat and short. Two weeks on Block Island reunited me with some wonderful roads and delicious views. After returning, I immediately took off for a week of work based at the Emma Willard School in Troy, NY. The campus is straight out of Harry Potter and the surrounding countryside is pretty easy on the eyes as well. I nearly left the bike at home in my haste, but sure am glad I didn't. Starting each day with a concentrated ride just after dawn was another reminder to #alwaysbringthebike.

Rapha Rising: Mission Accomplished.

The Rapha Rising Challenge? Climb 7235 meters in eight days. Upload your rides to Strava.

Sunday, July 14 - Catskill Climbfest 200K
I began this week's challenge with a great solo ride through the Catskills. Unfortunately, Strava feet are not the same as Garmin feet or RideWithGPS feet (or so it seems) as I quickly realized that Strava "discounted' all of the climbing I did this week by at least 20%. This ride clocks in at 9,663 on my computer and Strava claims it's only 7,557. Hey, they're throwing the party so who's to argue? I guess I just need to climb a bit more.

Monday, July 15 - Carney-Popletown Loop
Right out the backdoor, I was able to enjoy 2095 feet of climbing over 19.7 miles. Yum!

Tuesday, July 16 - Catskills Loop
I had to meet with a colleague who lives up by Haine's Falls, right off one of my favorite Catskill climbs, so I decided to drive to Woodstock and ride to her house in the morning and back to the car in the afternoon. The result? 48.3 miles of riding with 3661 feet of climbing (and some pretty spectacular views).

Wednesday, July 17 - Short Afternoon Ride
More hills, nothing fancy. Only an hour and a half to spare.

Thursday, July 18 - Mohonk-Mountain-Carney-Popletown Loop
This afternoon, I strung four of my favorite climbs together for 3,767 feet of vertical over 38 miles. That's 100 feet per mile, folks.

Friday, July 19 - Carney-Popletown Double Cross
At this point in the week, I was reduced to looking for maximum feet vertical for every mile ridden. Luckily, I have two big hills just a few miles from home, so I could get 2100 feet of climbing over the course of 15 miles.

Saturday, July 20 - Pre-Bat Mitzvh Double Cross
Same ride as Friday, but I just squeezed it in early in the morning.

Sunday, July 21 - Minnewaska-Mohonk Loop AND the Popletown Quadruple Bypass
I started the day with a nice ride with an old riding buddy. We met up at his house and took in a favorite loop over the Shawangunk Ridge via 44/55 and Mountain Rest Road. This morning's ride pushed me over the top, but I had a slice of time between yard work and dinner and knew that one more Popletown crossing (this time a Quadruple Bypass) would push me just a few more spaces up the leaderboard.

The final result? Mission accomplished. 26, 246 feet of climbing in 8 days. The prize? A patch, that may or may not even show up in my mailbox. The best outcome? I think that this training overload really did improved my climbing fitness a bit. I also think I'll take tomorrow off.

Catskill Climbfest 208K (Rapha Rising Edition)

When I first heard about Strava's Rapha Rising Challenge, I immediately thought of the Catskill Climbfest, my favorite local 200K permanent. It's a route that's packed with climbing and peaceful mountain roads, many of which are shaded and cooled by mountain springs and waterfalls. To commemorate the climbing done this week by ProTour riders in the TdF, Strava and Rapha have teamed up to challenge hacks like us to amass 7235 meters (or 23,736 feet) of climbing between July 14 and July 21.

There's pretty much water everywhere in the Catskills. In fact, the majority of NYC's drinking water is pumped down from reservoirs like the Ashokan here. Roads often ride alongside rivers or creeks that have cut through the mountains over thousands of years to make "cloves" and valleys. 

This section of road through Peekamoose Valley is shielded from sun on both sides by mountains and further cooled by a spring-fed river and countless waterfalls. Every so often, I was treated to a gust of cool air as if walking into an air conditioned room.

It's a wonder what water has done to shape the Catskills.

In fact, today, I was forced into a pedestrian detour as road crews had completely demolished a section of road compromised and degraded by Hurricane Irene. That's right, Irene, not Sandy. This road has been down to one lane since August 2011.

All told, it was a slow but steady solo ride. I was finished in 9-1/2 hours with 129 miles and lunch in the bank. Most importantly, I logged 2303 meters (7555 feet) of climbing towards my weekly total. As riders upload their activity, I've dropped to 1025th place. Now, I thought I had a pretty good start, but it looks like I need to get out there for some more climbing tomorrow!