HIGH PASS CHALLENGE 2009
I had my final bicycle hurrah of the year at the High Pass Challenge last Sunday. The HPC is a 114-mile ride from Packwood, Washington to the top of the Windy Ridge road on the east side of Mt. St. Helens, overlooking Spirit Lake, and back to Packwood. The amount and nature of climbing in this ride actually felt harder than RAMROD (see prior blog post) and I was pretty beat up after this ride!
The HPC course is designed as a stiff challenge and they only let 600 riders on the course. At the start line, they announced that any riders who finished in under 7 hours would receive a gold medal, under 8 hours would receive a silver medal, and under 9 hours would receive a bronze medal. Anyone not done by the tenth hour would be pulled from the course. Hmm. So much for my plan to "take it easy" during the ride! Now I had a goal.
I finished in 6:53:52, about 90th place out of 600 riders. Barely made the gold medal cut off! The last 20 miles absolutely destroyed me. Here's me gasping for air at the finish line:
My sustained level of effort during this ride was substantially greater than at RAMROD. Check out my heart rate data (average HR for the ride was 161!!! My anaerobic threshold is 143. I guess THAT could explain all the cramping). Click once to enlarge the graph, and a second time to enlarge further:
I also think the scenery at the HPC was more spectacular than at RAMROD, which surprised me. The 30-year old devastation of the area surrounding Mt. St. Helens remains a wonderfully scarred zone of dead trees and opportunistic flora. The altitude and exertion may have contributed to my sense of perceptive surreality.
The Numbers:
Total Distance: 114 mi
Total Time: 6:53:52
Average Speed: 16.2 mph
Total Climb: 7,184 ft
Total Calories Burned: 10,982
Total Calories Consumed: 1,500
Maximum HR: 184 bpm
Average HR: 161 bpm
Number of flat tires: 0
Number of near death experiences: 1
Number of fellow riders who fell into a canyon and had to be airlifted: 1
Number of sandwiches, bagels, cookies, etc. I ate at the rest stops: ZERO!!! (I had to bring all my own food, which will be the source of another blog post soon describing my new "diet")
Thankfully, my goddess Renée met me at the finish line with some snacks which I was able to eat and stave off my absolute collapse. Thank you!! Also, the cold bottle of tea felt good on my perineum:
I had my final bicycle hurrah of the year at the High Pass Challenge last Sunday. The HPC is a 114-mile ride from Packwood, Washington to the top of the Windy Ridge road on the east side of Mt. St. Helens, overlooking Spirit Lake, and back to Packwood. The amount and nature of climbing in this ride actually felt harder than RAMROD (see prior blog post) and I was pretty beat up after this ride!
The HPC course is designed as a stiff challenge and they only let 600 riders on the course. At the start line, they announced that any riders who finished in under 7 hours would receive a gold medal, under 8 hours would receive a silver medal, and under 9 hours would receive a bronze medal. Anyone not done by the tenth hour would be pulled from the course. Hmm. So much for my plan to "take it easy" during the ride! Now I had a goal.
I finished in 6:53:52, about 90th place out of 600 riders. Barely made the gold medal cut off! The last 20 miles absolutely destroyed me. Here's me gasping for air at the finish line:
My sustained level of effort during this ride was substantially greater than at RAMROD. Check out my heart rate data (average HR for the ride was 161!!! My anaerobic threshold is 143. I guess THAT could explain all the cramping). Click once to enlarge the graph, and a second time to enlarge further:
I also think the scenery at the HPC was more spectacular than at RAMROD, which surprised me. The 30-year old devastation of the area surrounding Mt. St. Helens remains a wonderfully scarred zone of dead trees and opportunistic flora. The altitude and exertion may have contributed to my sense of perceptive surreality.
The Numbers:
Total Distance: 114 mi
Total Time: 6:53:52
Average Speed: 16.2 mph
Total Climb: 7,184 ft
Total Calories Burned: 10,982
Total Calories Consumed: 1,500
Maximum HR: 184 bpm
Average HR: 161 bpm
Number of flat tires: 0
Number of near death experiences: 1
Number of fellow riders who fell into a canyon and had to be airlifted: 1
Number of sandwiches, bagels, cookies, etc. I ate at the rest stops: ZERO!!! (I had to bring all my own food, which will be the source of another blog post soon describing my new "diet")
Thankfully, my goddess Renée met me at the finish line with some snacks which I was able to eat and stave off my absolute collapse. Thank you!! Also, the cold bottle of tea felt good on my perineum:
posted by Max at 10:13 AM
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