On Bicycles, and.... what else is there?

Quick post today..... I estimated the power taken for Contador to do the climb to Nevegal, which took him 20:58 from the checkpoint at the base of the climb to the summit: 600 meters climbed in 7.30 km for an average grade of 8.2%. For direct comparison with Horner's Sierra Road climb I used the same numbers: 65 kg body mass, 6.8 kg bike, 1.5 kg of other stuff, 0.32 m² CdA. I reduced rolling resistance from 3% to 2.5% since Contador was on time trial tires. I still assumed 3% drivetrain loss. I used a power-speed model including inertia. I assumed he started the climb at 40 kph. The result: 6.24 W/kg. This is lower than the 6.56 W/kg I had for Horner on Sierra Rd. Horner's VAM was 1916 m/hr while Contador was 1750 m/hr. Of course it's not a fair comparison as Contador had finished two brutally tough stages immediately preceding the rest week the day before, and may not have fully recovered. It seems riders aren't having rest days as productive as the...

This past Wednesday I took a "long lunch" to go watch the Tour of California stage of Sierra Road. As a consequence, I had to work late and didn't get home until after 9pm and had to skip my planned SF2G rides that week to still get a project done, but it was all worth it. I even went in for a bit on Saturday. But you can't take races like the Tour of California for granted in the United States. History has shown over and over that each year may well be the last. I rode with some SF2G buddies to just before the summit of Sierra Road. There the road was blocked for some reason, even though it was still an hour and a half to an anticipated finish. So I was denied the last 100 meters. The climb was fun: I was enthusiastic at the start, dodging other riders, caught up in the crowd, until I looked back and realized I was in my 34/21, a gear well beyond my present fitness for this hill. I backed off to the 34/23 and took it easier the rest of the way, even thoug...

Tomorrow is only the third summit finish in the history of the Tour of California, the first two being the San Francisco prologue from 2006-2007 which finished on the top of Nob Hill. Tomorrow's climb is a bit tougher... 2007 Low-Key Hillclimbs I first encountered Sierra Road in Grant Peterson's fantastic Roads to Ride South, a book of route profiles of Bay area climbs from the 1990-era. It became for me an obvious candidate for the Low-Key Hillclimb series which Kevin Winterfield and I organized for the first time in 1995 . And the series will revisit it this year, in week 2 . My next encounter was when I did the Devil Mountain Double in 2000. That was quite a different experience, as it came after having already climbed Mount Diablo, Morgan Territory Road, Patterson Pass, Mines Road, and San Antonio Valley Road. Post-bonk, with tired, legs, it was an exercise in survival. But I did, and finished the 200 miles, albeit after dark. The Tour of California had the br...