IM Canada: Week 14 – Chen’s version (i.e., that time we traveled to all of the lands with Ruffles and Snickers)

Posted by Chen

The main event of this week’s training was our group ride (the group being Rachel, Katie, Matt, Mark, and me) from Oakland to Mount Diablo and back yesterday. This was my first time visiting Mt. Diablo period (I’d never even driven by to see it with my own two eyes), so I really had no idea what to expect. The elevation profiles I found online were moderately terrifying, making our usual big climbs look like teeny little speed bumps. “Ill-prepared” most aptly describes how I felt as we started our journey at 7am. And what a journey it was.

The ride started off in familiar territory as we made our way up to Tunnel, Skyline, and Grizzly Peak. We then turned onto Wildcat Canyon for a while, eventually connecting to Bear Creek Road, where we did the first of the three bears. Instead of the usual three bears loop, though, we turned off to make our way onto Happy Valley Road.

MISNOMER ALERT.

Happy Valley Road started off with one of the steepest climbs of the entire ride, and while I was trying to prevent any lactic acid build-up from happening before Diablo, there was no stopping it there. I felt like I’d been duped.

Fortunately, after the first big climb, the rest of the road was reasonable, and we made our way east towards Walnut Creek. This whole time, I was having a really hard time maintaining a comfortable body temperature. Temps were in the mid to upper 50s, which is pretty cool for biking. I was either freezing (like, shaking uncontrollably freezing) on the downhills or sweating my @$$ off on the uphills, which made for a generally unpleasant experience. All I wanted was a large latte in a bowl from La Boulange to keep me warm, but a large latte in a bowl was nowhere to be found. #bikingproblems.

After some city traffic through Walnut Creek, we made our way onto North Gate Road, and around mile 40 is when we finally started the long-awaited Diablo climb. I soon realized that the climb would be pretty reasonable grade-wise. It was constantly changing, but it generally hovered around the 5-7% range, with the occasional double-digit grade thrown in there for good measure. It felt comparable to the climbs I was used to doing in the Berkeley hills – just a hell of a lot longer.

We stopped for water and bathrooms just past the halfway point, and then we finally made our way up to the summit. The last 100 yards of the ride are ridiculously steep (15-16% grade, according to sources found on the interwebs), and I had totally been planning to get off my bike to walk that stretch in order to save my legs for the rest of the ride. As we approached the summit, though, and as I told Rachel, “OK, I’ll see you at the top,” she yelled back, “COME ON CHEN! YOU CAN DO IT!”

Well, I couldn’t exactly NOT do it after that. In a game-time decision, I continued to pedal after Rachel towards the top, and within 10 seconds, I was instantly cursing myself for doing so. It felt like I was doing straight up squats with a polar bear on my back. I wanted out, but I was trapped – the road was so steep that bailing was simply not an option. There was no way I would have been able to clip out and dismount without face-planting or causing some sort of scene.

So I kept after it, swerving to the left and to the right like a drunken idiot as I did so. In reality, it probably took me like a minute to get to the top, but it seemed to drag on FOREVER. My quads were on fire; my breathing was beyond labored, and my thoughts went into a very dark place. When I finally reached the top, I yelled, “Rachel – I’m totally going to hate you later!”

Don’t worry, Rachel. I don’t hate you. I’m not-so-secretly glad that you motivated me to get to the top without bailing. Plus it’s hard to be angry when you’re surrounded by views like this:

We obviously had to take our obligatory summit pics:

After a short water and bathroom break, and after lamenting that the visitor’s center did not have large lattes in a bowl, we descended back down (which took all of like, two seconds) and started to make our way back to home base.

I should have been really happy at this point, having conquered such a big climb and knowing we were on our way home, but right around mile 65 or so is when I realized that I may not have brought enough food. This was ironic, given that Rachel and I had been laughing that morning about how many calories we were carrying.

I started to get pretty hungry, and then between miles 70-75, I was downright hangry. I could feel myself getting shaky, and I was dreading the inevitable death that comes with under-fueling while biking. We knew a gas station was ahead, but we weren’t sure of the exact distance, so I was rationing my remaining Honey Stinger Waffle in an effort to avoid completely crashing.

At this point, Rachel and I parted ways with Matt, Katie, and Mark, who all had obligations at home, and I secretly wished I were BARTing with them, because I was seriously doubting my ability to make it back in one piece.

Luckily, the gas station at mile 75 came along to save the day. I rushed in and came back out with a Powerade, two Snickers bars for myself and Rachel, and an impulse purchase of sour cream and onion Ruffles chips.

BEST IMPULSE PURCHASE EVER.

We must have been a comical sight to see, with me chugging Powerade and shoving fistfuls of chips into my mouth while Rachel sang the praises of her glorious Snickers bar. Sometimes, Ironman training makes me feel like a crazy person.

After inhaling 450 calories in the span of four minutes, I deemed myself ready to conquer our last big climb of the day – Pinehurst.

Pinehurst is always challenging, mainly because we always do it towards the end of our rides, and the last few tenths of a mile are quite steep. Although I knew I was in for some pain, it was actually comforting to be in familiar territory again. I knew exactly what to expect, so I just kept my pace conservative all the way to the top. After a bit more climbing on Skyline, we finally, FINALLY made our way back home.

In the end, we traveled 90+ miles and climbed 9500 feet through all of the East Bay lands. It was an epic journey that spanned all of the emotions, and I’m really proud of all of us for getting through a ride that was considerably tougher than what we’ll face in Whistler. At least I hope that’s true.

Most importantly, I finally got my damn latte in a bowl.

IM Canada Week 14 Recap:

Monday: 

• PM: Trainer ride easy but longer: 30.3 miles in 2:02:02 (14.9mph). Tried to make up for my lazy Sunday during last week’s struggle.

Tuesday: 

• PM: Running w/2x3-mile tempo: 8:13 (warm-up), 7:29, 7:22, 7:17, 7:54 (recovery), 7:28, 7:26, 7:14, 7:46 (cool-down), 7:26 (0.1) (cool-down); 9.1 miles total (~7:34 overall pace). I had a 20mph tailwind on the way out, which made my first tempo set feel more like marathon goal pace. The 20mph headwind on the way back made the second tempo set feel like a near-vomit fest.
• Immediately followed by swimming 2250 yards, including 500s swimming and pulling (average pace of 1:51/100yd)

Wednesday: 

• PM: Swimming 3200 yards including 10x200EBEH (3:32, 3:33, 3:33, 3:33, 3:33, 3:31, 3:31, 3:31, 3:29, 3:32) (average pace of 1:48/100yd)
• Immediately followed by an easy/moderate stationary bike ride: 65 minutes 17.92 miles (16.5mph)

Thursday: 

• PM: Running easy/moderate: 10.1 miles in 1:21:28 (~8:04 pace). I may or may not have had 1.5 glasses of wine immediately prior to this run, thanks to a work-related happy hour. When duty calls…

Friday: 

• PM: Swimming 5000 yards, including 2x(500 swim, 500 pull, 500 paddles, 500 kick), finished off with a 1000 swim (average pace of 1:55/100yd). Kicking for 500 yards is hard. And paddles make me sore.

Saturday: 

• AM/PM: An epic journey biking from Oakland to Mt. Diablo and back: 90.45 miles with 9500ft of climbing in 7:32:34 (12.0mph)

Sunday: 

• Unplanned rest day. I was trying REALLY hard not to take a rest day this week after all of my unplanned rest earlier this month, but I started to sneeze uncontrollably last night and was really stuffed up, and now I have a fever of 100.2. So I’m trying not to be an idiot.