Had set my alarm to go off at 4:45, and it woke me up. I dressed for the ride in the dark, went down and loaded up some food and water bottles (Gatorade in one), then drove down to CVR by Torrey Pines SB and parked on the street. Unloaded my bike and kitted up for the ride, then I rode up to PCH and turned left to ride down to the coast and to the base of Torrey Pines Rd. First climb was fine, I rode at moderate pace but tried to keep it smooth and consistent, knowing that there were a lot more to follow. First loop up and then back down took me about 13 minutes, from there it was a series of repeats. I stopped at the top after five climbs and ate a banana, then continued on for another five loops until stopping again and eating a granola bar. By this point I had half convinced myself to ride a total of 16 loops, depending on how I felt as I got closer to the target. I was able to ride up in third gear for the first 13 loops or so, and for the last three I switched down to second gear in the middle of the climb, where it was a little steeper. For the last climb I was in first gear for that same stretch. Legs held out, my back was a little stiff, but the descents helped me stretch a little bit. Had some issue in the latter part of the ride with numb hands, particularly my left hand, but it wasn't too much of a bother. When I got to the top on the last one, I saw that I needed a little more elevation gain to get to 7000'. So I rode down the hill and climbed into Del Mar, getting to the stoplight at Del Mar Heights Rd before taking a U-turn and riding back down to where I'd parked the car. Here are the times, power, and heartrate values for the 16 climbs, from the Strava segment results:
- 8:59 224 W 142 W
- 9:05 225 W 144 bpm
- 9:06 229 W 147 bpm
- 9:18 223 W 145 bpm
- 9:35 212 W 141 bpm
- 9:42 209 W 137 bpm (note how my average heartrate dropped as my times got longer and my average power decreased as well)
- 9:23 215 W 140 bpm (after warming up, I was able to generate a little more power at the same average heartrate)
- 9:24 213 W 138 bpm
- 8:56 225 W 141 bpm (this is probably where a guy passed me at the bottom, and I caught up with him, then he passed me, so I put in a bigger effort and dropped him, this was my highest ratio of power to heartrate)
- 9:32 205 W 138 bpm
- 9:12 215 W 143 bpm
- 9:39 205 W 141 bpm
- 9:57 200 W 140 bpm (in my last four or so climbs I noticed that my power-to-heartrate efficiency started to drop off)
- 10:14 193 W 139 bpm
- 9:52 198 W 139 bpm
- 9:46 198 W 142 bpm (nice that my last climb wasn't my slowest)
From my analysis, I was more efficient at the start as I was warming up and at my freshest (first two climbs), then I dropped into a steady state for the next two climbs, followed by a higher-efficiency period where my power:heartrate ratio was measurably lower for about six climbs. Then I dropped back to steady-state efficiency for the next five climbs, while my last climb showed another measurable drop-off in this ratio as I started to tire more. By the way, my crank and bottom bracket functioned just fine, it seemed like there was less creaking noise coming from the bottom bracket, so perhaps the lubrication had some beneficial effect.
Avg speed = 14.4 mph. Total mileage = 55.3 mph
Avg power = 152 W. Weighted avg power = 194 W
Total elevation gain = 7040' (!)
Avg heartrate = 128 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 145
Training Load = 306
Intensity = 88%
Drove home after loading up my gear and got there a little after 10:00. Haleakala is definitely going to be a challenge for me. I had the house to myself for a bit until the others returned from a walk down to the park and back. We ended up going to lunch at a new place in RB, Bushfire Kitchen. It was okay, prices were high (of course) for what they served, food was decent but not great. Stopped at Von's after lunch and then headed home. The rest of the afternoon was quiet. I had a little nap and watched some TV, nothing useful done. Evening was also quiet, read a fair amount. I started re-reading The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner after finishing The Making of the Atomic Bomb.
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