Earlier in the day Ann and I went on a 6 mile run before we headed to San Jose. The weather was getting warmer as we finished the run but became much warmer as the day proceeded. On the way home the car thermometer was showing 107 degrees!

When we arrived home around 3:30 pm, I was glad to see that FedEx had left the package I had been expecting with the BR Light I had ordered. I quickly put it on the charger and then got ready to ride. I usually do the Henry Coe ride on Wednesday at 5:15 pm, but this time I wanted to ride it from home, even though the tempeature was hot.

With only a chance for a 30 minute charge on the new light, I mounted it on the bike and took off. I made it to Eric’s house just right at 5:15, as everyone was getting ready to ride. We headed up Dunne Ave. to climb Henrey Coe. Doug was riding with us this time and he is a faster climber than I am so I knew I would have a challenge. I went ahead of everyone at the beginning and about half way up Doug decided to jump and join me. We road together until we were about to the crest before the mid climb decent and he jumped out in front and then went down faster than I can. By the time we were starting to climb again, my legs felt weak all of a sudden. I have been climbing Henry Coe with a couple of gears to spare, using a 39×21. But it seemed hard for some reason so I shifted to the 39×24 and eventually the 39×27.

I thought, gee maybe I need to take my bike with the triple crankshaft on the Everest Challenge if I was having such a hard time pedaling. Could Doug have worn me out so fast?

On the climb, near the top there is a short decent, then the cattle guard to cross, followed by the steepest part of the climb, sometimes we call it the wall. It is short but the grade is tough. I started to climb, using what I thought was my lowest gear, and was struggling to turn over the cranks. I looked down to see what was happening and notice I was in the BIG CHAIN RING. I guess I forgot I had shifted to it at the mid point decent and that is why it seemed so hard to pedal the last couple of miles.

I had no choice but to grind it out in the big chain ring since I could not shift now. This was the short, steep pitch, that earlier I worried about when getting my new bike with a double crankshaft. Now I was climbing it in the big chain ring. I made it but it was tough.

I was a bit behind Doug as we made it too the top. We decided to go back down the hill and ride up again with the other riders. I noted that we went down 1.7 miles before met up with them, almost the length of the Metcalf climb.

I had checked my time for the time trail segment of the Henry Coe climb and it was 43:32, with an average HR of 158, maximum of 170, over the 6.9 mile segment. Last week Jim had mentioned that 40 minutes is considered a very good time, so I have some ways to go yet. As a comparison, Ann and I had taken 58 miles on the tandem last week.

After the decent it was back to Eric’s house for some snacks. I waited until 8:15 pm, when it was getting dark before I rode the 13 miles back home because I wanted to test out my light. It worked great and I will write up in a separate entry my impression of this new light.

Data for the ride ws 52.2 miles, 3 hours 37 minutes, average HR of 133, average speed of 14.5, maximum speed of 41.9 mph, total climb was 3,900 feet. From this heart rate curve, you can see I rarely went into the red zone, and then only when I was trying to climb with the big chain ring.

Categories: Cycling Group Rides