Chilly Hilly is in the books

Today was the Chilly Hilly bike ride on Bainbridge Island.  The temperature was in the low 40’s (wind chill in the 30’s), and it rained for most of the second half.  I had no problem keeping my upper half warm (in fact I had to stop and take off a layer), but my feet were frozen by the end.

I rode with my Uncle Mark and my friend Mitch.  The three of us have ridden many times together and have more than our share of cold weather cycling stories.  This was my fourth time riding the Chilly Hilly, so I was familiar with the course.  I remembered many of the hills, although I’m not sure I would call them old friends.  This was my first time cycling outside, and I felt it.  But all in all it was a good time.

I ended up setting a PR for me – 2:33 over 33.5 miles, a 13.1 miles per hour average.  We climbed 2,675 feet over many hills (there aren’t many flat spots on Bainbridge Island).  I ended up burning 2,400 calories on the ride.  My average heart rate was 157, with a high of 186.  I was over a 170 heart rate more time than I could count,  and over 180 multiple times as well.

Overall, the good news for me was that I could hold a high heart rate for so long – especially this early in the season.  I felt comfortable sustaining up to a 174 heart rate, not bad for a 45 year old.  The bad news was that my heart rate was getting that high or higher  on just about every climb.  My legs did start to fatigue at the end, and my lower back started bothering me – probably a result of not being use to the geometry of my bike since I haven’t been riding it. 

As I was riding, I couldn’t help but think of the dilemma faced by a rider my size.  Weighing 228, I am probably 50 to 80 pounds heavier than the average cyclist.  It’s not so much a problem on the flats, and is an advantage going downhill.  But uphill is a different story.  I know I have to drop into my granny gear on long hills, that’s just a given.  But the big problem area are the intermediate hills, which is pretty much the entire Chilly Hilly ride.  I can stand and use the power in my legs to get up the hills without dropping down in gears, but it drives up my heart rate and will burn out my legs over the long run.  The alternative is to drop my gearing and spin up the hills, but do that every time the road goes up and I lose incredible amounts of time.

 The solution, of course, is an easy one.  LOSE WEIGHT.  It’s the piece of advice that Lance Armstrong gives every time someone asks him how to get faster going up hills.  It was the biggest factor in Lance changing from a really good one day rider into a GC contender in the three week tours.  The same thing was true for Miguel Indurain when he started his five consecutive Tour de France victories.  The year he finally started winning was the year he showed up 12 pounds lighter than he had ever been as a competitor. 

For me, I have to lose weight for my health, but I also want to lose weight for my cycling.  And by the way, the last time I averaged over 13 miles an hour on the Chilly Hilly was in 2004, and I went on to have my best year ever as a cyclist.  I expect nothing less this year.

 See you down the road.