# 100 miles on almost no training



## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

Last significant ride I did was the Central Coast Double, fixed gear, on May 8. For various reasons, primarily family time, I all but quit riding since then. I have commuted to work, 26 miles round trip, once per week, and then extended last Monday's morning commute by adding 20 miles, for a daily grand total of 45 miles. That's it. Zero weekend rides. So, that's about 150 miles total in 7 weeks. This spring, that was one *day* of training on weekends.

Well, I had signed up and paid for the Climb to Kaiser months ago, and decided "what the heck, I'll give it a shot." C2K is 155 miles, with 13,500' of climbing, some long 18% grades, and essentially goes from 200' elevation to 9,200' and back. So, I built up a 1985 steel Bianchi with a Campy Record triple and 11-29 gears (10 speed) in back, downtube friction shifters, and all the celeste I could muster up. So, while packs of riders were passing me on every climb, at least I got a lot of nice comments about the bike.

Crusing out of town at 22 mph in pacelines was no problem, but I sooned learned, when the pavement turned up 14%, that going 2 months with little to no training really does have an effect on you, especially when you gain weight at the same time. I figure that you can ride with little training or being over weight, but not both. Should have been a clue that there would be a problem when I was picking out a jersey to wear the night before, and everything that used to be loose was too tight.

Anyway, made it up to the Shaver Lake rest stop at 5,500' elevation, about 50 miles into the ride, and turned back. Legs were shot. Felt like I as continually bonking, but energy consumption was not the issue. Lots of fun coming back down, though, as I had not ridden a "coasting" bike down the mountains in a long time. Finished 100 miles and about 7,000' climbing in about 6 1/2 hours. Getting out of shape sucks.


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## bmxhacksaw (Mar 26, 2008)

I've always wanted a celeste Bianchi - HTH


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*love them*



bmxhacksaw said:


> I've always wanted a celeste Bianchi - HTH


My cycling heart really lies with celeste Bianchis. Here's a bad photo:


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

Having ridden most of Climb to Kaiser, there is no question in my mind that you have to be certifiably insane to do it on no training. And you of all people should know better.


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*funny*



mohair_chair said:


> Having ridden most of Climb to Kaiser, there is no question in my mind that you have to be certifiably insane to do it on no training. And you of all people should know better.


It's a funny thing, when you get out of shape. You may not actually realize how far out of shape you are until you do a hard ride. You think you feel good. There is no escaping the reality that gravity provides, though. You quickly are reminded how useful training really is, and that you do not get through these things purely on will power. Amazing.

ps, I had no idea how fat I look, till I just saw this -- sheesh


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

No Celeste gum hoods?!?


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*I wish*



MB1 said:


> No Celeste gum hoods?!?


While those look like Campy brakes, they are Cane Creeks. Can't find the celeste for them.


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## Hairy Palms (Feb 8, 2010)

Yeah, we don't know what we lost until we try a hard ride. That climb is killer even when I'm in good shape. Good thing is though it takes less time to get back to where we were before we got sidetracked.


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## dfvcador (Jun 4, 2006)

You are a crazy man. Mentally it was a good try. Physically a terrible plan.


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## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

Fixed said:


> ps, I had no idea how fat I look, till I just saw this -- sheesh


HA! Ain't that the truth - the mirrors in our house always lie. ... until someone's camera proves them wrong.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

10 speed triple with friction... how'd that go?


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

A triple? I thought you only rode fixed. I love your Bianchi. My first decent road bike was a Celeste Bianchi, and I've regretted selling it every since I made that dumb decision.


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## JP (Feb 8, 2005)

Cool. Good effort. I can see a flat century on that kind of mileage, but no way for me with all that climbing. I'd be one big cramp.


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## Goodbarsix (Aug 5, 2009)

Nice work on the ride! It really is amazing how you may feel you are ready when you really are not. I rode the Triple Bypas bike ride this past weekend and it took me from 5:30am till 8:30pm to finish! Granted my legs (and my riding buddies legs) were fine at the end, but we were really fatigued....and I thought it would be no big deal. HA. Elevation is a mother!

Once again, great job on giving it a go! I love the bike as well...really classy!


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*fine*



Creakyknees said:


> 10 speed triple with friction... how'd that go?


I used to race a 1980 Bianchi with friction shifters (still have it), so not really a big deal.

Front derailleur works even better than Ergo. Can put it precisely where you want every time, with infinite fine trimming. Rear works surprisingly well after a little practice. Can dial it in to be very quiet. I commuted for a while on this bike, too, and that wasn't so great, with 37 stops each way and tons of shifts. Had some problems getting it precisely on the rear cog as I was pulling up to a stop, and then the chain would jump as I pulled away. Just reverted to fixed gear/ss mode and left it in one gear, and no problem. But, for long rides in the mountains, where I might stay in one gear for an hour at a time, no problem at all. Still hard to beat the simplicity and reliability of fixed gear, though, which I'm back to commuting on.


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