Todays ride (for BYUPrides education)

[Quisqueyano]

I rode up the canyon today. My equipment included a long sleeved under armour shirt under my jersey and long tight over my shorts. I was fine on the way up. But still froze on the way down.
Anyway, I decided to do the ride different today. I usually ride in my big ring and work on power. Today, I decided to drop to the middle ring. I wanted to take the work off my legs and put it on my heart and lungs.
I rode the lower gear, but was able to increase my cadence (over the bigger gear) my I would guess about 40-50%. I was able to maintain the same speeds as with the bigger gear and reached the same mile marker. My legs feel great and I was actually able to come out of the saddle and accelerate at times.
I also worked on my peddle stroke. Especially concentrating on pointing my toes dows 20-25 degrees at the bottom of my power stroke. That helped me maximize the pull on the up stroke.
It was a good ride today. I can feel myself getting stronger on the climbs. Which has always been my weakness.
Sorry for rambling. I just thought I would share. Especially since there is a newby hanging around here.

[bYuPride]

Originally Posted by Quisqueyano

I rode up the canyon today. My equipment included a long sleeved under armour shirt under my jersey and long tight over my shorts. I was fine on the way up. But still froze on the way down.
Anyway, I decided to do the ride different today. I usually ride in my big ring and work on power. Today, I decided to drop to the middle ring. I wanted to take the work off my legs and put it on my heart and lungs.
I rode the lower gear, but was able to increase my cadence (over the bigger gear) my I would guess about 40-50%. I was able to maintain the same speeds as with the bigger gear and reached the same mile marker. My legs feel great and I was actually able to come out of the saddle and accelerate at times.
I also worked on my peddle stroke. Especially concentrating on pointing my toes dows 20-25 degrees at the bottom of my power stroke. That helped me maximize the pull on the up stroke.
It was a good ride today. I can feel myself getting stronger on the climbs. Which has always been my weakness.
Sorry for rambling. I just thought I would share. Especially since there is a newby hanging around here.

I don't know how I missed this?! Thanks for letting me know more in detail about your workouts. I thought about just buying an underarmor long sleeve shirt to go underneath my jersey instead of just buying a long sleeve jersey all together. Is there an advantage either way? I would guess a long sleeve jersey would breath better through the chest and back vs. the underarmor, but my rides are usually never longer than 1 1/2 hours... I don't think my rides are too strenuous as far as hills go... They are big for me for sure, but I don't have anybody or anything to compare to so... How far up Big Cottownood do you ride?

[Quisqueyano]

The problem on a cold day mountain ride is that you sweat hard on the way up, then turn around and freeze at the high speeds of a decent. For colder rides, I like to layer as much as needed. Which is why I went with 2 tops.
Arm warmers are great. But you still leave your chest exposed.
As for my canyon rides, It depends on my time available. If I have the time, I take it easy and go to the top, or Solitude.
If I am short on time, I amp it up and ride for a pre-determined time. 45 or 50 minutes up, then a rocket decent.

[bYuPride]

Originally Posted by Quisqueyano

The problem on a cold day mountain ride is that you sweat hard on the way up, then turn around and freeze at the high speeds of a decent. For colder rides, I like to layer as much as needed. Which is why I went with 2 tops.
Arm warmers are great. But you still leave your chest exposed.
As for my canyon rides, It depends on my time available. If I have the time, I take it easy and go to the top, or Solitude.
If I am short on time, I amp it up and ride for a pre-determined time. 45 or 50 minutes up, then a rocket decent.

I think I'll try to go up the Canyon this weekend or next week. That sounds like a lot of fun and something new....

[Quisqueyano]

Originally Posted by bYuPride

I think I'll try to go up the Canyon this weekend or next week. That sounds like a lot of fun and something new....

Find a gear that is light enough for you to maintain a cadenceof 60-70 RPM.
The big monster in that canyon is the s-curve around storm mountain. it is long and fairly steep. Most of all be careful coming down.
If you want to ride it during the day sometime, let me know. I can meet you at the mouth of the canyon and ride it with you. it can't be later than about 3pm.

[Archaea]

Q, we have some good climbs here in the desert. Last week I did our 90 mile 8000 foot climb ride, where we ascend a gentle 3-4 percent grade for 9 miles, plunge to the Colorado river and reascend nine miles between 6 to 8 percent. At that point a 70 cadence is tough to retain.

We then have another thirty miles home.

There is also the same ride adding another 35 miles.

[Quisqueyano]

Originally Posted by Archaea

Q, we have some good climbs here in the desert. Last week I did our 90 mile 8000 foot climb ride, where we ascend a gentle 3-4 percent grade for 9 miles, plunge to the Colorado river and reascend nine miles between 6 to 8 percent. At that point a 70 cadence is tough to retain.

We then have another thirty miles home.

There is also the same ride adding another 35 miles.

Big Cottonwoon Canyon climbs at about that same rate. It is only 13 miles (I think) to the top. And there are some flatter spots to recover on.
To be honest, I hate the mountain rides. I only do it because I am not very good at it and I want to get better. I prefer a flatter, longer ride where I can just fly.

[bYuPride]

Originally Posted by Quisqueyano

Find a gear that is light enough for you to maintain a cadenceof 60-70 RPM.
The big monster in that canyon is the s-curve around storm mountain. it is long and fairly steep. Most of all be careful coming down.
If you want to ride it during the day sometime, let me know. I can meet you at the mouth of the canyon and ride it with you. it can't be later than about 3pm.

Big Monster probably means different things to you than to me. My big monster is probably a mole hill compared to what you think.. As far as coming back down, I'm a total wuss when it comes to speed downhill. I'm getting more confident, but my right hand is always ready to clamp down on the rear brakes. Yeah, let's plan on riding up sometime. My schedule is pretty flexible for next week. You tell me which day is best for you... I'll probably be able to make it around 12:00-12:30 anyday. I'll try not to slow you down too much, although you probably already know that you will be going slower than normal..

[bYuPride]

Originally Posted by Quisqueyano

Big Cottonwoon Canyon climbs at about that same rate. It is only 13 miles (I think) to the top. And there are some flatter spots to recover on.
To be honest, I hate the mountain rides. I only do it because I am not very good at it and I want to get better. I prefer a flatter, longer ride where I can just fly.

Does anybody really enjoy climbing? I guess I find satisfaction of a good climb AFTER I'm done, but I never like doing it... Maybe the really light guys enjoy climbing.

[RC Vikings]

Originally Posted by Quisqueyano

I rode up the canyon today. My equipment included a long sleeved under armour shirt under my jersey and long tight over my shorts. I was fine on the way up. But still froze on the way down.
Anyway, I decided to do the ride different today. I usually ride in my big ring and work on power. Today, I decided to drop to the middle ring. I wanted to take the work off my legs and put it on my heart and lungs.
I rode the lower gear, but was able to increase my cadence (over the bigger gear) my I would guess about 40-50%. I was able to maintain the same speeds as with the bigger gear and reached the same mile marker. My legs feel great and I was actually able to come out of the saddle and accelerate at times.
I also worked on my peddle stroke. Especially concentrating on pointing my toes dows 20-25 degrees at the bottom of my power stroke. That helped me maximize the pull on the up stroke.
It was a good ride today. I can feel myself getting stronger on the climbs. Which has always been my weakness.
Sorry for rambling. I just thought I would share. Especially since there is a newby hanging around here.

Stick a newspaper under your jersey when you go back down the mountain. I'm not sure they still do it but they use to do this in the TDF. Now all you need is someone to stand at the top of the pass to hand it to you.