Climbing

I have now entered a new stage of training. Climbing up some of the hills around Malibu. In training for the cross country experience I never knew that these bike rides existed. Thanks to an organization called the LA Wheelman I can print out cue sheets and for the last 3 weekends on Saturday I have been riding these routes.

Below a description of the route.

(Main route 65 & 5900 ft, Long return 80) Round Three and things get a little harder. The distance is about the same as the first two weeks, but we crank up the climbing a little this week with two major climbs – the title climbs in fact. First up is Latigo. Not so steep but with over 8 miles of climbing, it can get to you. It’s on to the 2nd climb of the day – Stunt Road. This is 4 miles and probably the toughest climb so far in this early training season. You may recall zooming down Stunt last week. After you conquer Stunt, you are done for the day as you cruise down to the coast on Topanga and return back to the start. That is, unless you want a little more and opt for the long return. Then it’s a trip across the Valley and a final climb over Sepulveda.

The sun came out and during the climb up Stunt I was really struggling. I made it up and thought I was done, but there was a little more climbing after that and after the 4 miles up Stunt that was difficult as well.

As I live in the valley, I ended up taking the long return route. Add in the mileage to and from where I live and that adds up to 90 miles for the day. The longest ride of the year. I checked last years training and I did the same amount of miles one year ago !!! However, the next day I rode 110 miles and I do not think that I will be doing that today.