And you thought Ink Grade was painful??

Fifteenth toughest ride in Napa. In Napa, that too!

15) INK GRADE 247 ft/mi. Total distance from Pope Valley Rd. to White Cottage is 4.5 miles and 1110 feet of climbing. Very nice ride with plenty of shade, lots of breaks especially at the start. One of the longer climbs in Napa but not as difficult as most. Also part of our righteous Tour of the Napa Valley.

247ft/mi?? chhii.. not even 5% grade.

how about this for a climb?

2) SPRING MTN (starting from St Helena) 526 ft/mi. I rank this second even though there are two other climbs that are steeper, but this one is longer and there are essentially no breaks. Total distance (from Y in the road to county line) is 4.5 miles and total elevation gain is 1560 feet. The major pitch however is 1.9 miles long and 1000 ft with virtually no breaks. It is covered in shade which helps but I've only attempted this twice in 7 years just to give you an idea of how much I enjoy this one.

excerpt from here: http://www.eaglecyclingclub.org/hills.htm

Tour of Napa Valley 100k

Not a great preparation for the 100k.

- Missed last two weekend rides to Old La Honda & Kings Mountain

- My only rides in the last 3 weeks were the bike patrol during weekend Asha runs

- Car problem 2 days prior

- Lost TeamAsha jersey the day before (even before I tried it on)

- Trial by fire for my brand new biking shorts (no.. not for the shorts, more for me!)

- Amid all the forgetfulness, landed late for dinner in Napa the night before

But after that, things seemed to turn around. It was nice for all of the folks to have waited for me. The to-go dinner tasted good. The weather at the campsite was pleasant. The best part was of course that I got a sound sleep Sat night! All I cared was to be able to sleep well the day before, and the first goal was accomplished! Everything else, not a care in the world!

Clearing up the campsite went quite smoothly in the morning. It's a different matter we (Prakash & I) ended up late in the morning. By the time we got to the check-in point, it was already 7:30. After lounging around a bit, and adjusting my brakes, it was time to roll. It was close to 8:00 already! Was probably the last of the 65mi riders to start.

I was lucky to have coach Stan riding alongside, making sure everyone was rolling, and also taking pictures of us all. After a gentle warmup (for coach), he took off and left me panting. ;) No, I wasn't, but Stan really did take off. Pretty soon, there was no sight of him. I kept chugging along and after some time, I passed Praveen & coach Stan, who had stopped to fix someone's bike. And then, I saw coach Lyresa patroling for other bikers. It is amazing how all the coaches double and triple the climbs patroling for the bikers in the group. Taking pictures, egging us on, etc. Take a bow!

Reached the first rest stop @ about 14mi. Lots of awesome food!! (Had to be the first thing I mentioned about it.) Met up with the rest of the gang, and ready to roll again as it was still a bit chilly. Started out with a climb, and then there were some rolling hills. Nice shade, slow biking, it seemed all fine. Raja & I were rolling around pretty smoothly, and I even mentioned to him "it's been pretty smooth so far." That was probably around 20mi or so. Raja went ahead. I slowed down. It wasn't really a climb, but it wasn't easy as well. It lasted for probably another 3-4mi. I had no idea about this climb, how long, if there was a downhill.. no clue. By the end of it though, I was sick of it!! Sick of biking slow.

The first sight of a downhill / flat road, I started pushing on. I knew the second rest-stop was not too far away. And it looked like the climb had been negotiated. I caught up with Sriram & Prakash, but I had no intention of slowing down. i just kept pushing on, probably pedaling at 90-100rpm. Kept going for about 2-3mi, maybe.. touching 30mph. And to my surprise, Prakash & Sriram were right behind me. Good drafting!!! Took a small break, slowed down, and took off again.. it was amazing! The three of us, zooming past other bikers, keeping at it for a good 4-5mi. Terrific. Best part of the ride! Then I slowed down, Prakash & Sriram continued. I caught a glance of the dreaded Ink Grade Rd (this was the only thing about the ride that I had heard of) and met them again at lunch stop. Along with the coaches and the rest of the gang. Sumptuous lunch and bike maintenance followed. After a leisurely break, I started back, alone, to climb up the Ink Grade!

It's just a hill. Yea, what's the big deal? I kept pedaling. In my lowest gear on a climb, and shifting a few gears down whenever there was a little respite. The stupid climb never ended!!! Refused to budge. How long is this??!! Saw "half way there" on the road soon. Was excited. Then there was a relatively less steeper 'climb.' Yelled out "yoo-hoo, downhill!!" I thought I was doing fine.. trudging along slowly, when my quads cramped all of a sudden. Lucky for me, I had a place to stop on the side. Sat down for a while, emptied the gatorade bottle, stretched a little, walked a little, and got on the bike soon. And then I saw coach Stan patroling pretty soon. He rode up the hill with me again, like he did with almost everyone!! and clicked pictures. So sweet! :) Finally, was almost done with Ink Grade. At the water stop, looking for salt. But to no avail. Glad the cramps did not come back. After some more climb, it was downhill time!!

So far so good, negotiated shoe lace in the chain, and toe clip coming off without falling. Next stop was about 13mi away. And most of it was downhill. WOW!! Not much pedaling to do, and still coasting at 35mph+. It was awesome. Really awesome, and really pretty. Met up with Raja/Naresh/Prakash/Sriram/Praveen at the last stop. By that time, I was pretty much stuffed. Had a little food, and started out again. Started ahead with Sriram, but soon everyone passed. The last 13mi were full of anticipation of the finish line, knowing that the difficult part had already passed. It was sunny, but there was a gentle breeze. It was so close, yet so far. It felt nice, and at the same time sad that the ride was ending.. It was a nice day.. why did it have to end? A bunch of mixed feelings. After a long stretch of Silverado Trail Rd, I pushed on for one last time and slowed only at the sight of the finish line.

The sight of Chakri, holding the camera to capture the moment. As he has done on numerous occasions!! Finish line = Chakri! Kudos to you! And the rest of the riders waiting to give high-fives. And again, of course, the awesome food!! :)

It was a great ride. And a great first trip to Napa. Thanks to all the coaches and TeamAsha!! It was awesome, but it was all a stepping stone for hopefully many more rides to come.

When am I gonna do Old La Honda? What about King's Mountain? What about all those other places we haven't explored? Can't wait.. Thanks for the wonderful program so far!!!

Napa Preparation

Calaveras was intense. The ride next weekend was to the reservoirs in San Jose. Relatively, it was a piece of cake. 45mi, but compared to Calaveras, this seemed like a flat course.

I could complete the whole ride without getting off the saddle. (although I would not advise that.. :) ) 3 more weeks to the Napa, and good confidence after Calaveras.

However, I missed the next two weekend rides. Looks like I missed some good ones too - Old La Honda & Kings Mountain.

At this point, I pretty much did not do any preparation specifically for Napa course. I just trusted myself to complete the ride in one piece.

The Wall

Calaveras Out-and-Back on Jul 18th

Of all the rides I have done so far, this is the favorite one!! This is the first ride that gave the joy of a prolonged downhill. While on the previous ride, I learnt how "not to" fall in a downhill, this ride I enjoyed the downhill. :)

After a warmup 3mi stretch of flat biking, there is a 2.5-mi stretch of 6% climb on the way out. After that climb is what bikers affectionately refer to as "The Wall." It is a 14% climb for a short distance. (1% grade means 52ft of climb over a mile.) If you thought the 6% climb was tough, you encounter the Wall. I stopped mid-way and walked my bike until I could muster enough courage to get on the bike again.

After the wall, and then there was another 14mi of rolling hills all the way up to 84 (yes, 84 again) in Sunol. While heading to Sunol, I kept wondering if it were better in this direction or the other. The rolling hills were a pain. But the route was so scenic, I would give a little of myself to enjoy the scenery! So, just like that, we were at the half-way point. We had done 20mi, and 20 more to go on the way back. Ironically though, I did want to go further at that point instead of heading back.

The way back was grueling each time there was a hill. It was a grind, and the first time mental strength came into play. Was reminded of hitting the wall while running marathons. It was challenging. And it was awesome!! Even without realizing, I hit the 14% downhill. And once that happened, everything else did not matter. 14% down grade, and then another 6% downgrade over 2.5mi. Going downhill @ 30mph -- can't put that feeling in words. It was like the whole effort of climbing up that hill was paying off!! Just pure bliss. Imagine flying for 5min.

To put it in perspective, the climb took about 25min, and the descent took about 5min. :)

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Came back two days later to negotiate the wall without stopping. :) Did a 14-mi loop for a good early morning ride and a glance at the Calaveras reservoir area.