ride joe ride

I should note here, in case I am maimed or unable to ever again look at bike related material, that I am signed up for the Dairyland Dare 300k. In addition to being 180 glorious miles, it also graciously provides 22k feet of climbing (the summit of Everest is 28k ft above sea level). Though I am already working on cross training, I figured that it would be a travesty to let the summer pass without at least once attempting some serious self-inflicted bike related torture.

Okay, that sounded like I actually made the decision as a rational agent. In fact, Steve preyed upon my post-baseball/beer/bratwurst intoxication and tricked me into signing up. I woke up the next morning with that awful “oh what have I done” feeling. I came to terms with this feeling by cajoling fellow Tatito and Morning Roll author, Francisco into doing it as well.

Man, it’s great to have friends.

Oddly enough, one year ago today I reminisced here about my first 100 mile run. Five years later, and still not very much sense.

About half way through the 20 minute climb up the “hill” outside of Blue Mounds state park this weekend in WI, I began to think of hills in a different light. In fact, I devised a theory which I will now subject you to.

Given a particular grade of climb, a particular gear, and your particular weight there is a corresponding wattage which is the minimum required to keep your bike upright and rolling. I’ve decided to call this a hill’s “oFac” which is short for “ouch factor.”

Here’s an example:

My carb-loaded self and bike, on a 10% grade, in 39×25 might demand 200 watts to keep the whole package rolling (upward) at 5 mph. In this (probably inaccurate) case, that particular grade’s oFac for me is 200 watts.

Okay, I can hear you thinking: “why the hell does this guy bore me to death with endless descriptions of riding a trainer, and now attempts to liven things up with pointless hill climbing theory? Doesn’t he know I live in chicago where there are no hills?”

But this is interesting. See, a hill’s oFac is variable depending on grade, gear and size of your butt, but it’s not dependent on your ability to put out watts. All other factor’s being equal, variability in ability to generate watts will function to make a hill’s oFac fall in different wattage zones. Two riders who weigh the same, are pushing the same gear, riding the same speed, and riding up the same hill will have the same oFac. If one of those riders is able to put out more watts overall, the hill’s oFac will fall lower in the rider’s wattage range. Raising one’s LT means that the same hill will fall lower in one’s wattage range giving one more options for riding them (i.e. options other than “omg, I hope I make it to the top”).

What’s this all mean? I haven’t any clue, and I think it boils down to “if you’re stronger, hills will suck less”, but it’s what I was thinking when I was on that hill. Climbing for 20 minutes will do this to you. I did, however, come away from the day of hills with this observation:

For the first time, I used my powertap as a pacing device — something which may prove useful in race situations at some point. Knowing that the last climb of the day was going to suck for an extended period of time, I decided to try to stay just under my LT which, theoretically, would make the ride up as expeditious and minimally painful as possible. Oddly enough, this worked just as planned, and I found myself near the top thinking “hey that was pretty snazzy!” Next time up this sucker I think I’ll try doing periods of five minutes at 120% LT or so with a couple of minutes worth of recovery pedaling in between. Faster but with more slobbering?

Man, I love hills.

Okay, if you made it this far, you totally deserve an annotated graph of the climb.