Today I made an easy 50 mile day into a challenging 80 mile one. Heres how...
On a relatively flat day in Texas, I took a 20 mile detour with Kyle and most of the group to Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US (we'll be visiting the grand canyon in a few weeks).
We rode to the scenic outlook post where I witnessed some of the most beautiful natural wonders I've seen on this trip. For miles all one could see was carved out layers of sedimentary rocks that had been carved out by the flow of water for thousands of years.
After taking some time to take in what we were seeing, I heard there was a road down to the canyon floor that featured grades up to 20% and Kyle and I decided to take on this road.
While the 14% grade into Johnstown was certainly the most
terrifying of this trip, this road was a close second with 7 switchback turns down the face of this canyon. I fully enjoyed taking the turns as fast as possible, and after reaching the bottom, Kyle and I decided we needed to tell others and repeat this awesome experience.
The climb back was somewhat enjoyable, and after convincing others to come with us, we went down a second time. Having seen the course for the first time, I had a pretty good feel for it, and took the turns even more aggressively at higher speeds. I really enjoyed being able to rip through these tight turns and decided at this point I would attempt this a third time, as I figured if i climbed fast enough I might be able to get to the top for the third time by the time the last person got there.
I took the hill up at race pace, and had my heart rate at probably the highest its been on this trip, reaching 194 bpm max. I do think this trip has significantly improved my climbing ability as well as my endurance, as I feel faster on climbs than I ever have before...I guess I'll have to leave it to the fall or even next spring when races start to know how far I've progressed.
Reaching the top, I took a short breather before barrelling down for attempt #3. This time I hit speeds up to 49.8 mph, which was pretty exhilerating. I know some people do hill repeats for fun, but I did canyon repeats today.
The rest of the day was somewhat tiring, although I did manage to draft the trailer twice, albeit for a short time.
Today definately goes down as one of my favorite ride experiences I've had so far.
On a relatively flat day in Texas, I took a 20 mile detour with Kyle and most of the group to Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US (we'll be visiting the grand canyon in a few weeks).
We rode to the scenic outlook post where I witnessed some of the most beautiful natural wonders I've seen on this trip. For miles all one could see was carved out layers of sedimentary rocks that had been carved out by the flow of water for thousands of years.
After taking some time to take in what we were seeing, I heard there was a road down to the canyon floor that featured grades up to 20% and Kyle and I decided to take on this road.
While the 14% grade into Johnstown was certainly the most
terrifying of this trip, this road was a close second with 7 switchback turns down the face of this canyon. I fully enjoyed taking the turns as fast as possible, and after reaching the bottom, Kyle and I decided we needed to tell others and repeat this awesome experience.The climb back was somewhat enjoyable, and after convincing others to come with us, we went down a second time. Having seen the course for the first time, I had a pretty good feel for it, and took the turns even more aggressively at higher speeds. I really enjoyed being able to rip through these tight turns and decided at this point I would attempt this a third time, as I figured if i climbed fast enough I might be able to get to the top for the third time by the time the last person got there.
I took the hill up at race pace, and had my heart rate at probably the highest its been on this trip, reaching 194 bpm max. I do think this trip has significantly improved my climbing ability as well as my endurance, as I feel faster on climbs than I ever have before...I guess I'll have to leave it to the fall or even next spring when races start to know how far I've progressed.
Reaching the top, I took a short breather before barrelling down for attempt #3. This time I hit speeds up to 49.8 mph, which was pretty exhilerating. I know some people do hill repeats for fun, but I did canyon repeats today.
The rest of the day was somewhat tiring, although I did manage to draft the trailer twice, albeit for a short time.
Today definately goes down as one of my favorite ride experiences I've had so far.
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