IHHP Blog

If you’ve ever been to the Midwest U.S., you know most of the big “hills” are the bridges that go over the highways, so how could I possibly train to do three long mountain climbs in one day?  This was the second question I asked myself when I decided to ride  l’Etape Du Tour – a mountain stage of the Tour de France (the first question was “are you nuts?”).   The answer was that I have no idea how to train for mountains, so I got a coach who has done this same ride.   Here is what I have learned through coaching;

1)      Intervals.  I do have a few small hills here – the biggest is about 200 feet of elevation and takes me about 5 minutes to cycle up (compare that to the climbs in France that are 3000-5000 feet of elevation and can take as long as two hours).  By doing repeated intervals, your legs do get used to the climbing.  It’s a big difference from a long climb though, because you get to recover on the way down.

2)      Low-Cadence, High-Gear riding.  This has been the most important thing I’ve learned from my coach about training in Chicago – if you ride at a lower cadence (RPM) on a higher gear, it’s the same motion and intensity as when you are climbing a mountain.  I’ve been doing 20-30 minute intervals at these high gears.  The idea is that your body doesn’t know the whether you are going up a hill on flat ground, as long as the cadence and intensity are the same.  Of course this doesn’t take into account the lack of oxygen at the higher elevations, but see point #3 on that

3)      Sleep in an Oxygen tent to simulate higher elevation.  Just kidding – I’m not that serious.  But some of the professional riders do this and the question is whether this is cheating – like doping?  Certainly amateur or less successful riders can’t afford to do it. Of course perhaps my emotional IQ and understanding of resilience and of the human brain may just give me an unfair advantage.

4)      Travel to places that have mountains.  Ok, I know this is obvious, and when you travel as much as I do these opportunities are plentiful.  Here are a couple of amazing mountain rides I’ve done:

• Palomar Mountain, CA.  Incredible ride – it’s 12 miles straight up at an average of about 7% and cranks up to 10-12% near the top, where you are gasping for oxygen.   I covered 4500 feet of elevation in 2 hours (riding at an average of 6 mph for you mathies).  And the ride down is amazing – speeds up to 45 mph, amazing views, and no work!
• Colorado Springs.  I Had 3 amazing (and tough) days of riding.  Here are a few highlights:

                   i.      Woke up on Friday morning and it was 32 degrees and snowing – in the valley.   Waited until it got to 37  degrees and rode for 2 hours in the snow

                   ii.      Saturday was a balmy 42 degrees. Did 3000 feet of climbing up to where it was snow covered and about 32 degrees.  Very cold!

                  iii.      Sunday – rode a wicked mountain road with 1300 feet of elevation in 3 miles.  First mile was ok, but the last 2 miles averaged 9-10% grade, and it got as high as 14-15%.  When it got down to 7%, it was like resting.  Had to stop 3 or 4 times, but made it to the top. 

              iv.      Got as high as 7800 feet above sea level.  Definitely felt the lack of oxygen at the higher elevations.

              v.      I did almost 7000 feet of climbing over the three days.  Scary considering the Etape ride is over 10,000 feet of climbing in one day!

In June, I will be riding more big mountain climbs in Las Vegas and then in Tucson.   It’s been amazing to get out a train as much as I have.  I’ve lost 20 pounds and feel in much better shape – I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for the coaching, and the big goal I have this summer (and had the support of my wife and family!).

Ok – need to get back to the training…