Training

When I started my training, about two weeks before the ride, I didn't believe I would be able to finish the C2K. Some people apparently train months for this ride; I received e-mail from someone who biked from San Francisco to the Mexican border to help get him in C2K shape. Something between my frenetic two weeks and crossing international boarders is probably a more appropriate way to train for the ride.

I did have a base of conditioning from fairly regular riding - I had been averaging perhaps 70 miles per week on the road since February, and I had the Solvang and Chico centuries under my belt. Certainly the very low gears on my mountain bike were a major help - I could not have finished the ride if I'd had to pedal with the low gears the roadies had on their bikes. I had a 34 tooth cog on the rear wheel, and my smallest front chainring was 22 teeth. (Of course, I also came in near the end of the line.)

Over the course of 16 days (starting July 10th, when I started taking notes), I rode 425 miles and climbed more than 32,000 ft.

I missed four days of riding during that time. I had no special training regimen. For example, on the 10th of July I rode all of 15 flat miles. The next day I managed 46 hilly miles, including a run up Roscomare Road in the Santa Monica mountains, with a half mile grade as steep or steeper as any I found on the Kaiser ride.

I made nine runs, over the course of two visits, up Fargo Street, in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles. Fargo St. is just a 1/10 of a mile long, but it boasts a 33% grade. I hoped pushing repeatedly up Fargo would help get me in shape, and psychologically prepare me for some of the steep grades on the Kaiser ride.

Most of my rides were north of my home, in the Santa Monicas. I spent one day in Cambria, on the central coast of California, where I rode up Santa Rosa Rd., with an impossibly steep climb, high into the Coast Range. Wherever I rode, I didn't race up any hills, I just turned the cranks until I reached the top of each hill.

At the end of two weeks, I thought that I might make it as far as the lunch stop on the C2K. It turned out, of course, that my two weeks of self-torture were enough to gain me success on the entire Climb to Kaiser ride.

I was able to calculate my elevation gains with the help of a GPS device thoughtfully provided by my friend, Kit Blaemire.

Here is a list of the miles I rode, plus the elevations: 15 (flat ride), 46 (2,500), 17 (1,000), 21 (2,000), 36 (2,000), 31 (3,000), 72 (3,000), 18 (1,500), 16 (3,000), 51 (7,200), 21 (500), 78 (6,500)

Preparations

This is what I packed for the ride:

- CamelBak Rocket; in addition to holding lots of liquid, the Rocket had enough room to hold :

- Spare tube, tire repair kit, mini pump, spoke wrench, hex wrenches, cleat wrench (and even more items if I needed them, such as a cell phone and even my compact Kucharik windbreaker)

- Frame-mounted water bottle, to hold 24 ounces of Gatorade, Cytomax, etc.

- 10 packs of Gu - I used 7 of them, all in-between rest stops

- I packed my lights into a bag that the sag crew took up to the Shaver rest stop, in case I needed them for the ride down (which I did); the bag itself, with some other items I didn't need, like a windbreaker, was returned to me at ride's end.

Most people ride the C2K on road bikes, and most of the road bikes have triples. Mountain bikes are rare steeds. For my mountain bike, I had:

- Tires: Specialized Turbo Comps (unfortunately discontinued) - the Continental Gran Prix is another 1.0 road tire for mountain bikes, and is in fact quite a bit lighter than the already light weight turbos!

- Standard issue wheels from Specialized that were speced for my Stumpjumper. (If you'd like to try building your own wheels, you can't go wrong with Jobst Brandt's classic The Bicycle Wheel.

Eating and Staying Hydrated:

I carried about three quarts of liquid - one on my bike, and two in my CamelBak. I drank at least two quarts an hour, probably more. The fluid that I carried in my pack, until I reached the top of Kaiser Pass, was water. I tired to keep a quart of Gatorade (or whatever was offered at the various stops) in my water bottle. For food, I ate a muffin at the start of the ride, and I ate at every rest stop, whether or not I felt like it. And I ate tubes of Gu in between rest stops.

Next Time:

Should I attempt this ride again, I'll cut the rest stops down to about five minutes each, I won't spend time talking about my beloved bike, which intrigued several people enough to ask me about the bike, and/or ask to pick it up (because it was perhaps the only mountain bike on the ride, and because it was fitted with road ties, which gave the bike an odd, and lightweight look). I'll start training two months, instead of two weeks, in advance. That should shave an hour or so off my ride.

There are so many ways to carry water, tools, and food. I like to go as light as possible. Ideally for any long ride where I need liquid and tools, I'd use two frame-mounted water bottles, (with at least one holding Gatorade), and put my tools and pump and patch kit into my jersey pockets.

But water bottles filled with Gatorade or other carbo drinks invariably leak, which leads to sticky hands and a sticky bike. The CamelBak is a cleaner option; the model I have makes makes carrying tools, tube, pump, and extra food more convenient than jamming everything into jersey pockets. So next time I'll probably use my CamelBak with Gatorade, Accelerade, or Cytomax, and use my water bottle to squeeze water onto my head and neck.

Rain gear: Not generally needed on the ride - but apparently it has rained in the past, and in fact some years patches of snow can be spotted along Kaiser Pass. I brought a wind coat this year just in case but left it in my car at the start of the ride (I've got a nice Showers Pass rain jacket for future trips).

2002 Update:

I thought I would never ride up Kasier Pass again. But I couldn't resist the allure of the ride. I also wanted to see if I could improve on my time.

I weighed seven pounds less than I had the previous year, thanks less fattening foods (i.e. less desserts), and I rode a lot farther - and started weeks earlier - to prepare for the ride (my wife, daughter and dog wondered where the heck I was every night). To help me train, I used a Specialized cyclo computer that totals elevation gain. The extra miles and hills, the weight loss, and spending much less time at rest stops, let me cut my time by two hours and fifteen minutes, and I felt amazingly stronger throughout the ride. I came in the middle of the finishers, while there was still some daylight, and while there was still some chicken left for dinner. I used my Camelbak again, and put just water into my water bottle. The only drawback to my mountain bike was the discovery that, on downhills, I ran out of gears, not gas. I couldn't keep up with a few other riders who were willing to pull me along. If I make the ride again, I'll try to add a smaller cog on my cassette.

2003?

I'm not sure I'm up to another Climb to Kaiser. The route for 2003 may include a few more miles and more elevation gain than previous years. Haven't I sufferened enough?!? (Um, yes, I have registered for the ride).

Note: In 2003 it was either my marriage or the ride - it took a while but I finally decided on my marriage and attended another, non-cycling event with my wife. As consolation prize, I rode up Tioga Pass in 2003, a ride I'd long wanted to make.

Links

Essential Web Sites -

The Climb to Kaiser: Chris Z's comprehensive look at the ride from a "local" participant, with fine advice and a slide show - this is the Web site that drew me to the ride

Official C2K Web page: Fresno Bike Club

Stories about the C2K -

Carl Schilling, of the Almeden Cycle Touring Club, writes about the 2001 Climb to Kaiser.

Almaden cycling club members write about the 2000 C2K.

Sue Kayser's account of the 1999 C2K, on the Almaden Cycle Touring Club's website.

Climb to Kaiser in 1999 by a team from the Sacramento bike club.

Tandem Team from Almaden bike club climbs to Kaiser Pass in 1998.

Nigel White takes another look at the 1998 C2K.

Bikeaholics: Long distance bike aficionados' humorous telling of the 1997 C2K, with photographs.

Nicholas Surjan of the Sacramento Wheelmen offers his view of the ride.

Jeannie Phillips provides a look at the rainy 1996 C2K.

Details -

Ride Statistics put together by William Syversten.