They posted the results for last Saturdays Devil Mountain Double. I ended up coming in 31st place out of the 112 that were able to finish. Over 150 riders entered but many can not finish this most grueling event with 206 miles and 18,600 feet of climbing. I was very happy with my time considering only extremely fit riders enter this event. I may have been the only one my age to finish.

I posted a detailed analysis in a prior blog entry.

The times for the people I know and ride with:

• Gary F. 14:03
• Me 15:32
• Brian C. 16:21
• Lyresa P. 16:36
• Russ and Sheila S. 17:01 (on a tandem!)
• Kley C. 17:20
• Paul D. 18:30
• Uji Y. 18:30
• Art C. 19:33

Categories: Devil Mountain Double, Ultra Distance Events
No Comments »

I finished the very difficult Devil Mountain Double on Saturday. It is 206 miles with 18,600 feet of climbing. It is probably the most difficult double century in California. My final time was 15 hours, 32 minutes, a big improvement over last year

I was happy with my time since it was hot again. I got worried coming up Mines Road because of the heat and started to get a bad case of hot foot. There was a breeze this year that helped. I really focused on drinking all day, and took a lot of Endurolyte tablets. I was so worried about cramping again on the backside of Mt. Hamilton that I went up slower than I probably needed to, but I never did cramp anywhere on the ride.

I was also happy to make it to Norris Canyon, the last section, before dark. I don’t like biking on Crow Creek Canyon road in the dark due to all the traffic. I had carried my one pound light the entire day and could have got by with a small Cateye light.

I left the aero bars on the bike which was a good thing. It gave me an alternate position not only for my hands but when I am in the aero bars I get a different position on the saddle, which greatly helped to take some pressure off a tired butt. It was either that part of the body or my right foot that hurt the most.

This year I used my newer bike with only a double crank, but I had no big issue with the higher gearing. I would have preferred to climb up Sierra Road with a triple but the better handling of the newer bike was a benefit on the rest of the ride.

Summary

Here is a detailed comparison with doing the same event last year.

Time Comparison

This chart shows my arrival times into the various rest stops. You can see that for the first 115 miles, up to the junction cafe, I did almost the same between both years. Last year my times slowed down considerably due to cramping on the backside of Mt. Hamilton. Click the chart below to view enlarge.

Stopping Time Comparison

This shows a comparision between my stopping time between years. Times shown are in minutes. Most of the improvement in the total time was due to a signficant reduction in the amount of stopping time at the rest stops.

Last Time

I don’t plan on doing this event again. It is very difficult and takes out of you far too much. Since I had a difficult time last year, I wanted to do it again to see if I could do it right with better training and more of a focus on hydration during the event. Having accomplished that, I don’t feel a need to repeat it.

Categories: Devil Mountain Double, Ultra Distance Events
1 Comment »

Okay, I have finished my training program and I can’t avoid it any longer.. The extremely difficult Devil Mountain Double will start soon. At 5 am tomorrow we will start to ride in the dark towards Mt. Diablo for our first of many major climbs. I hope to finish the 206 miles in 15 hours, of which 7 hours will be climbing the 19,000 feet. It is not a question of what will hurt, but what will hurt the most.

The forecast for the inland area is a high of 89 degrees. Last year we had a similar heat wave and it caused most everyone to have serious cramping issues. We should also have some stiff winds, especially going over Patterson Pass. They put windmills there for a reason.

Yesterday I was trying to decide which bike to take. I have now decided to take the newer bike with only a double crankshaft. Unlike the recent Solvang Double, this is going to be a slog it out type of ride where just getting through will be the main focus. Although there may be times that I wish I had my triple, the new bike handles better and fits me better, and is lighter even with my aero bars attached. If I can finish in 15 hours, that will be more than 3 hours faster than how I did last year.

Trying the DMD with just a double crank may be a big mistake. Ask me tomorrow what What Hurts the Most!

Categories: Devil Mountain Double, Ultra Distance Events
No Comments »

I rode my older bike, with the triple crank, on the ride up Henry Coe last night. I was thinking to use it on the upcoming Devil Mountain Double this Saturday because it has the lower gearing. It was making some rattling sound, the speed pickup came loose, and it just doesn’t fit me like my new bike, even though both are a 52 cm Trek frame. I was thinking last night to go ahead and use my new bike for the tough double this Saturday, even though it only has a double crank. I can climb all those hills with the double, but I am not sure about doing all of them the same day with a double. I had to use the triple last year for this event due to cramping in my legs.

I spent this morning putting a new tire on the front and moving the front tire to the rear to replace that worn tire. I reattached the speed pickup for my Polar heart rate monitor and I tightened the cassette, which I think was the source of the noise. I had used a torque wrench before but I guess I had the wrong setting.

I weighed both bikes, loaded as I would ride them, sans water bottles. The new Trek Madone is a lighter bike but I have aero bars on it. On my old bike I have put on new wheels and a new Durace crankset so it is lighter than it use to be. I was surprised that both bike weighed nearly the same, within half a pound.

• Trek Madone 5.2 18.65 lbs (with pack with 2 tubes, CO2, mini pump, aero bars
• Trek 5200 19.35 lbs (with pack with 2 tubes, Co2, mini pump)

Part of the difference is the weight of the Syntace C2 aero bars at 358 grams, close to one pound. I could remove those since there is not that much drafting on this event. That would bring the wieght of the new bike down to 17.8 lbs, or 1.5 lbs lighter, both on an equivalent basis.

I set up both bikes next to each other to see if I should make any adjustments to the old bike to match the ride I like on the new one. I ended up moving the saddle forward slightly. I notice the handlebars one the new bike are a bit higher and the 10 speed shifters really do have a better angle, but without getting a new stem for the old bike there is little I can do there.

I just finished 24 mile last ride using the old bike. I fixed the rattle and it seems to be working fine. I calculated that the difference of 1.5 lbs will only mean 4 mintues total time difference for the entire DMD. I recall when I did the Furnace Creek 508 going up Townes Pass with my double and having a difficult time. Later I thought I should have used the older bike with the triple (which was on the support car). I expect the climb up Sierra Road after already doing 140 miles and 15,000 feet of climbing will be similar. But I did the entire Furnace Creek 508 with only a double, even Townes Pass. I used the double on the Death Ride and the Cimb to Kaiser. So I have decided to tough it out and go with the faster and lighter bike.

Categories: Cycling, Cycling Equipment, Devil Mountain Double
1 Comment »

It is the final countdown to the Devil Mountain Double, which I will ride on Saturday. At this point all my training needs to be finished and what I do this week is more about tapering and trying to keep the edge. Yesterday I decided to not do the long distance training ride with the club because it would have been back to back 100 mile days and I felt it might do more harm than good. So instead I did the normal ride out of Sunshine Bicycle store with my friends who live in the area.

Because of the visit from John and family, I was not able to get in as much biking for a week. I mentioned in my last entry about doing a hot ride the day after they left that had a lot of climbing and miles. I continued to ride a lot during last week, including doing the Tierra Bella Century on the tandem on Saturday. It was not quite the most miles I have ridden in a week, but close. With the week being bookended with long rides, I ended up with 483 miles and 30,000 feet of climbing. This keeps me on plan for both miles and feet of climbing for my training program. The total miles I have put in is slightly above my training plan but well above what I did last year.

When looking at the feet of climbing, something more important than just miles when training for the DMD, I am well ahead of both last year and my training plan I established.

One aspect I hope will pay off is the training I did last week. In 2008 that week was spent in Atlanta to watch the Tour de Georgia. We went there after running the Boston Marathon. When I returned to California I tried to jam in some ridding, and maybe did too much the week of the DMD. This time I have a full week to recover. In 2007 you can see I biked over 400 miles the week of the DMD, which means 200 miles the days before the DMD. That was too much. This time I have moved the extra miles a week earlier.

It is a similar story with the feet of climbing.

All of this is mainly to give myself some confidence. I know that doing the DMD is going to be most difficult, no matter how much training I have done. It is a long ride with a lot of climbing. Last year I measured 206 miles with over 18,600 feet of climbing. I think it is the most difficult double century in California.

Last year I did the 206 miles in a total time of about 18 hours and 15 minutes. I looked at last year’s heart rate chart to see how I did at the midway point. At 103 miles, I had biked half the distance and more than half the climbing and had reached that at 12:10 pm, about 7.2 hours from the start (we started around 5:00 am). So if I was able to keep that pace for the second half I should have finished in 14.5 hours. Since I took nearly 4 additional hours, it is clear why I felt I did so poorly. Click on the graph to enlarge.

During the first half my average heart rate was 145, but you can see from the above chart I let it go into the red zone too often on some of the clmbs and even some of the flatter sections where I was trying to keep up with a paceline. I need to be smarter this time about monitoring my heart rate and drop off the pace line if necessary. I feel that if I keep hydrated, watch my heart rate and eating, I should be able to finish within 15 hours. That might not be a fantastic time, but more than 3 hours faster than I did it last year.

Categories: Devil Mountain Double, Training Log
1 Comment »