A great weekend of Coker Climbing

We decided that it's time to get serious training for the 'Alps Tour'
(http://aut.unitours.org/) since it's only 2 1/2 weeks away. No more
long distance easy rides, just steep hard climbs. So last Saturday we
drove over to Mt Diablo which has a nice paved road that climbs 3300' in
about 11 miles. To up the ante, after climbing to the top, we rode back
down to the halfway point, then up to the summit again, then down. That
was at least 5000' in 32 miles. I guess the challenging part was the
second time up the last 1000' of distance to the summit which averages
17% grade. Beau and I were on 152mm, Bronson used 160/180 up and 140
down, and Geoff used 175 (without a brake). On the summit I heard one of
those all-time great sayings. This is verbatim: smaller Harley rider to
large Harley rider, -Man, is your accelerator hand sore?-

Or maybe the challenging part was getting up early the next day and
doing it again. Sunday we headed up a challenging road nearby which
rolls along for 10 miles, then climbs an 2200' in 3.86 miles (10.8%
average grade) with a section that's 0.4 miles long at 19% grade. We
took a side road (rough dirt) to the summit of Bald Mountain which has a
great view over the whole South Bay - you can see all the high points
around SF Bay: Mt Tam, Mt Diablo, Mt Hamilton, Loma Prieta Peak and Mt
Umunhum. Unfortunately the paved road is closed to the public above
2870' - someday when this part gets added to the preserve we'll have a
killer climb available. Beau, Bronson and I were on the same cranks, Rob
was on 158mm without a brake and Scot was the superman, leading most of
the way on 140mm cranks - it was pretty unbelievable watching him crank
smoothly up the 19% climb on those cranks. He is in great shape and
should do well in the Alps. The rest of us did ok too - Beau and I
weren't sore after 2 days of this leg muscle abuse.

Bronson and I both bought new cameras for the Alps and tried them out on
these rides. Photos with the Nikon Coolpix 7900:

'mine' (http://community.webshots.com/album/391991786WDFpDv)
'Bronson's.' (http://community.webshots.com/album/392723505ItovQG)

Here are the GPS tracks I recorded:
'Saturday' (http://tinyurl.com/78tgw)
'Sunday' (http://tinyurl.com/aqky3)

These tend to overestimate our total climbs. We did not do and 7880'
Saturday and 5550' Sunday! But the heartrate plots and maps are
interesting.

Beau and I did a couple of short training rides before this big weekend
and he was pretty letdown when the big 19% grade came on Sunday saying
it wasn't nearly as steep as what we had climbed 2 days before. We did a
climb up a deadend paved street near our house that is over 20%. The
first night we did it on 125mm cranks (3 dismounts), then switched to
152mm and were able to get up it non-stop. Long cranks are really nice
for steep climbs!

---Nathan


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--
nathan - BIG rides: Muni & Coker
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That is some awesome, and inspirational, training. I was sore from 30
miles of flat on Saturday. Tomorrow after work I'm going after some
Vert!

All hail the Cal-animals...

TB

PS: Here is where I fail to resist the temptation to ask you to ask
Geoff when we'll see the Telford 36 frame.


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

"By George! The man's a genius!"
Murde Mental

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Sounds really excellent, Nathan!

You guys getting new cameras is nothing but good news for those of us
who go through each of these rides pic-by-pic!

I love seeing the manzanita of the California hills again and
terrain-following roads on the topographic map.

Thanks for posting.


--
U-Turn - Cool water for the flame

Weep in the dojo... laugh on the battlefield.
'LiveWire Unicycles' (http://www.livewireunicycles.com)
'Strongest Coker Wheel in the World'
(http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albup39)
'29er Tire Study' (http://u-turn.unicyclist.com/29erTireStudy/)
'New York Unicycle Club' (http://www.newyorkunicycle.com)
-- Dave Stockton
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Wow! What beautiful views from the top! That picture of the view south
is breathtaking.


--
HistoricalGoof - Cruisin' in B&W!
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Being kind of little, I imagined coker climbing to be entirely
different.
I prefer your version.
Cathy


--
cathwood - Lunicyclist

A thought is just a thought.

http://www.chuckingandtwirling.co.uk
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nathan wrote:
*Here are the GPS tracks I recorded:
'Saturday' (http://tinyurl.com/78tgw)
'Sunday' (http://tinyurl.com/aqky3)*


This is the kewlest gizmo I've seen in awhile.
I installed the map viewer, and watched your progress ...


--
DigitalDave - Ðîgï†å||¥ ËñhÂÑ€èÐ

'nf7-s ~ xp2400mobile'
(http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=21988)
'20,124 3dm01' (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8399731)
my will to live was stronger than my will to die. - iggy pop
that which does not kill me, makes me stronger. - friedrich nietzsche
1899
if it's popular, then what's it got to do with us? - mens room wall
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What an awesome weekend of ups and downs! You guys look like a bunch of
studzes in the picture posted to this thread.

You guys should bring your Cokers this Sunday for our Downieville ride.
It should be some great downhill training, plus remember there is a bit
of climbing in there!


--
johnfoss - More Moab Fun

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com

"Read the rules!" -- 'IUF Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/) -- 'USA Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/usa/competition/)
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