Road Titans 300

This past weekend I attended the Road Titans 300 Challenge. The Road Titans 300 is a 3 day event in Seneca, SC where cyclists tackle 3 tough 100 mile routes that feature 8000-10,000 feet of elevation gain per day. There are 3 groups depending on your ability as a rider. There is also a competitive aspect to the event where riders race up the biggest climb on the route each day. The rider with the fastest time up each timed climb receives 3 points, second place 2 points, and third place 1 point. The rider with the most points at the end of the three days is the King of the Mountain (KOM) for men or Queen of the Mountain (QOM) for women. The KOM and QOM in the A group received $1,000, a Titan helmet trophy, and a free entry into the 2016 event. I won the event in 2014 and had a great time at the event. I wanted to win it again this year. However, this was going to be tough with riders like Jake Silverburg who rides for Astellas, Hector Zepeda from Panama, Rickie Morales who rode for Incycle-Predator in 2014, Ricardo Giraldo Sierra who rode for the Movistar continental team in Colombia in 2011, and Akil Campbell from Trinidad present.

The first day of the event we rode on some rolling roads with beautiful views from Seneca, SC toward Caesar's Head. On the way out to Caesar's Head we went up the grueling Glassy Mountain (0.7 miles @ 12%) climb where we had a rest stop. All the rest stops included Infinit nutrition, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ham or turkey and cheese sandwiches, coke, cookies, and pickle juice to prevent cramps. The rest stops are very well stocked on this ride and are part of the reason I enjoy the ride so much. We descended and rolled over to Caesar's Head (6 miles @ 5%) for the first timed segment. I know Caesar's Head very well because I train on it at least once a week. It is not very steep but has some steep pitches near the end. I made sure to start the segment last because the event is timed. After about 1 mile of climbing I made it to the front riders. The other riders knew I won the event last year, so they forced me to set pace. In order to be prepared for any attacks, I set a pretty comfortable pace for myself up most of the climb. Ricky put in a few attacks, but I was able to peg them back pretty quickly. When the climb got steep near the top I lifted the pace and attacked. I managed to drop everyone with about a mile to go. However, Hector stayed close all the way to the top, forcing me to work for it. After Caesar's Head we rolled easy down the back side of it where we stopped at the next rest stop. Then we rolled over to Sassafrass where we descended, hitting speeds of over 55 mph. That was super fun, and we got a preview of what we would be in store for the next day. Then we descended down to Bob's Place where we hit the final rest stop. We rolled pretty easy back into Seneca. The easy riding when we are not attacking the KOMs is a fun part of the ride because it allows you to meet some new and interesting people. It is also a fun time to talk with old friends.

For the second day of Road Titans we rolled from Seneca and headed out towards Bob's Place for the first rest stop. It was apparent there were some tired legs at the start of the day because we rolled at a pretty slow pace. When we arrived at the rest stop the B group was not very far behind us. At the rest stop I shed my vest and arm and leg warmers and put them in the follow car. We continued at this pace over towards Sassafrass (4.4 miles @8%). Today the other riders were aware of my tactic of starting the timed segment last yesterday, so I was forced to lead from the bottom of the climb. Sassafras is steep! It may only average 8%, but it has reprieves where I hit over 40 miles per hour on the way up. It has steep pitches of 15%-17%. I set a fast pace from the bottom because the climb is so steep. The others were breathing heavy but stayed on my wheel for a while. Akil put in a big attack on a steep section, but I pegged him back. As we neared the middle of the climb Rickie put in some attacks, and I countered all of them. After one of the attacks he blew and I was alone again pegging it all the way to the top. The climb just kept going, and going, and going. I never do this climb in training, so I do not know it well. I arrived to the top about 30 seconds ahead of Ricardo and Rickie. Second and third place were different than yesterday. That meant I had won the KOM event after Sassafrass. At the top of Sassafrass there was a beautiful view. That made the climb worth it. It was cold at the top, so we left pretty quickly. We descended Sassafrass and rolled around in the valley at the top of the mountains for a while. Then we descended the twisty 178 descent. That was really fun! Then we hit HWY 11 and set a pace line over toward the Lake Jocassee rest stop. Lake Jocassee is beautiful. I would highly recommend that anyone visit there if they never have. The terrain for the rest of the ride was tough rollers, and we hit them at a relatively fast pace all the way back into Seneca. I was sore after day 2 of the Road Titans!

When I arrived to the final day of Road Titans Jan-Michael let me know that the day would be shortened to around 80 miles because there was a forecast of rain. He did not want to risk any injuries in the bad weather. I think it was a good call for rider safety. Jan-Michael also said since I already won the KOM, he would give $200 to any rider who beat me. I was also eligible for the $200 if I had the fastest time. That was nice of him to throw in the extra prize. We left Seneca and headed toward the White Water Falls (6.4 miles @ 4.2%) climb. This is another deceiving climb that has reprieves and steep pitches. At the start of the climb I hung back a lot. I started the climb maybe 20 seconds behind the other riders. On the first descent Grant Potter gave me his draft to help me catch the leaders. On the next pitch I bridged up to the leaders and began to set pace. Today Rickie attacked me a good bit. I countered a lot of his attacks, and was finally able to shed him and Hector on the second to last pitch of the climb. Then we turned left to head toward Wigginton Overlook. That is a tough 0.8 mile climb that averages 9.4%. It is a big kick in the pants at the end of a very tough 3 days of climbing. There was a rest stop at the top of the climb. It was wet at the top, so we got off the climb safely and headed back into Seneca. After we got off the descent Ricardo set a ridiculous pace for about 25km leading into the final rest stop and a picture with all the Titans at South Cove County Park in Seneca. He was a machine! After the photo we rolled easy with the B and C groups back to the Gigniliat Center in Seneca.

Once we arrived to the Gigniliat Center we received medals for completing the Road Titans 300. I received a cool Titan helmet for winning the KOM. All the riders gathered for a feast that included beer, fried chicken, mac and cheese, green beans, potato salad, the best cup cakes ever, and sweet tea. It was an awesome southern feast! An epic event like this will push you beyond your limit and will tell you what you are made of as a cyclist. I would highly recommend the Road Titans 300 to any cyclist looking for an epic 3 days of riding. It is a very well supported event by the city of Seneca and Jan Michael Ramery and his crew. The people who put together this event are some of the nicest around. They put on an awesome event and ask how they can do better. I feel that Road Titans 300 is one of the best supported events around. The rest stops include awesome food. There is a moto that guides us along the route. There is also a follow car with a mechanic that you can shed excess clothes in. Come out to the Titans 300 Challenge in 2016 and be a part of this awesome event. You will be happy you did it.

What does it take to complete the Hincapie Gran Fondo?

I recently had an athlete ride the Hincapie Gran Fondo. The Fondo offers routes of 15 miles, 50 miles, and 80 miles or the Piccolo, the Medio, and the Gran. Each route features 1400 feet, 4000 feet, and 8000 feet of elevation gain respectively. Over the past few years he has done the Medio, but for this year he wanted to tackle the Gran. His time was 2 hours and 45 minutes last year for the Medio. I helped him arrive to the Fondo rested and in the best shape of his life. He was ready for the challenge but knew he had to pace himself well just to finish it. His goal time was to break 6 hours for the ride. This rider weighs 157 pounds and has an FTP of 248 watts.

He rode mostly in his endurance pace over to the first climb of the day. There were some spikes in power to his anaerobic capacity and VO2max zones. However, those efforts were too short to sap his energy for the rest of the ride. He did a great job with is pacing over to Skyuka.

Then he hit the monster that is Skyuka Mountain Road (3.9 miles @8.7%). Skyuka took him around 40 minutes to complete. His effort on this climb was not at a consistent wattage. The times spent in each zone are not continuous efforts. They are rough approximations of the total amount of time he spent in each zone. He tried to ride the climb as much as possible in his tempo power zone (189-225 watts) and spent a total of roughly 18 minutes in tempo. When the climb was too steep to ride tempo, he rode in his lactate threshold zone (226-262 watts) and spent around 9 minutes of Skyuka riding at his LT power. Since the climb is so steep, he had to make several surges to both VO2max and anaerobic capacity power. He had a total of 7 surges ranging mostly from 10-20 seconds in duration to VO2max power (263-299 watts). The longest VO2max surge he had was the first surge for 62 seconds. He had a total of 2.5 minutes spent in VO2max power on Skyuka. He had a total of 9 surges to anaerobic capacity mostly ranging from 10 seconds to 30 seconds. He spent roughly 3.5 minutes in his anaerobic capacity zone (300+ watts) on Skyuka. He hit his max HR for the entire ride of 187 bpm about 20 minutes into Skyuka at the end of a 54 second anaerobic capacity surge that averaged 312 watts. His average power for Skyuka was 205 watts and a normalized average power of 225 watts. That effort up Skyuka was a tough one for him!

He coasted down the White Oak descent and rode mostly at endurance pace over to Howard Gap (1.3 miles @11.4%). It was smart of him to recover in the valley. At the bottom of Howard gap he rode at tempo power for as long as he could (176 watts for 8 minutes and 51 seconds). Then the steep grade of Howard Gap kicked in. He had to do an evenly paced 12 minute and 13 second effort at 239 watts. That is almost at 100% of his FTP! He was still able to tach his HR up on Howard Gap. He averaged 170 bpm with a max of 181 bpm. He averaged 223 watts with a normalized of 232 watts for 16 minutes and 26 seconds up Howard Gap. Even though this effort was a solid one, I believe it was the one that put him over the edge and into the hurt locker for the rest of the Fondo. A lot of people tell me that Howard Gap is the hardest part of the Gran.

After Howard Gap he once again did a great job of saving energy and riding mostly at recovery and his endurance pace over to Green River Cove (2.4 miles @7.5%). On the Green River Cove climb it looked like he was really feeling the effort of the ride. Up Green River he rode mostly at tempo and high endurance power with some spikes to anaerobic capacity and VO2max. However, the spikes were for less time and were less sharp than the spikes he hit on Skyuka. He had 3 surges to anaerobic capacity ranging from 8-24 seconds in duration and 5 surges to VO2max ranging from 10-28 seconds. I could also see that fatigue had set in with the relatively low max HR of 177 bpm. That max HR came at the end of a 24 second anaerobic capacity surge coming about 14 minutes into the Green River Cove Climb. His average HR was 158 bpm compared to an average of 166 bpm on Skyuka. That lower average HR on Green River Cove showed he was fatigued. He averaged 195 watts with a normalized power of 203 watts for 21 minutes up Green River Cove.

The final rest stop came shortly after Green River Cove. He realized he was pressed for time to reach his goal of less than 6 hours. He pushed home with an average of 153 watts, which is well within his endurance pace. He cramped up a little over 6 hours into the ride and had to stop for about 1 minute. He finished up with a time of 6 hours and 7 minutes and even had a nice 30 second kick of 250 watts for the line. His average power for the ride was 140 watts with a normalized power of 184 watts. Even though he just missed his goal of breaking 6 hours, I would call his ride a success. His moving time without stops was 5 hours and 25 minutes. That is well within 6 hours! If the rest stops went a little quicker, he would have beaten his goal time. We do not always hit our goals. However, it is nice to come close to them. That is especially true when the goal is something as epic as the Hincapie Gran Fondo ride. I am really proud of this athlete for getting his ride done and pacing it well.

2015 Hincapie Gran Fondo

This past weekend I participated in the Hincapie Gran Fondo. I looked forward to just having a fun ride and mostly riding at a moderate pace. The weather was around 60-70 degrees and overcast the entire time, so I would say it was perfect. This route is super tough. It has three climbs in it, and they are all very steep. Each of them averages 9% in grade or more. On the way over to the first climb I dropped my phone, so I needed to stop and pick it back up. After this I saw George Hincape, Christian Vandevelde, and a few other stopped on the side of the road. I stopped with them for about 5 minutes, and we rotated to catch back up to the front group well before the first climb of the day. My goal for the day was to ride the climbs at my sweet spot pace. However, with only 4 days on the bike before the ride that was still pretty tough. At the top of Skyuka I stopped at the rest stop for a while to get some fuel and took the White Oak descent with Reid Richesin because I did not want to tackle that one in a group. We rolled over to Howard Gap with some Hincapie junior riders, and I also went up that climb at sweet spot. I felt ok during that effort. We just cruised from Howard Gap down the descent and through the valley over to Green River Cove road and the next stop. We refueled there with Infinit mix, Bonk Breakers, and some cookies. We waited for George's group to arrive and leave. On the flat road up to Green River Cove we did a pace line with Christian Vandevelde, Cadel Evans, George, and Ted King. The pace was very quick, and about 2 minutes before Green River I came undone because I just didn't want to keep going that hard. After that effort I was still able to tackle Green River at sweet spot, but I felt like I was near cramping by the top. I got to the final rest stop in Saluda and had a couple chicken fingers. I rolled from that rest stop with Reid until George's group caught us going down the Watershed descent. They were railing it. I hopped in for a little bit, but began getting some cramps for real. I decided to back off the pace then and just roll to the finish. This ride is a really tough one, and I am glad I was able to do it again this year. I had a really great time, and I look forward to doing the Road Titans 300 this weekend.