Strava is a San Francisco startup that has produced an app that allows you to track your bike rides (and runs) and compare yourself against other local riders, and yourself. I can race up a certain hill on my ride, Strava records my time, and when I look at the app, I can see if I’ve got the fastest (or 124th fastest …).
Strava regularly posts challenges. The current challenge, and the subject of this blog, has been their Classic Climbing Challenge. The Challenge is to ride the total vertical distance of the Spring Classics (Paris-Roubaix et al) times three. That means 32,100 metres of going up! In 47 days.
I completed the challenge this morning. Fifteen days after the start.
It wasn’t easy.
To complete the challenge I had to change my commute from a leisurely ride up the Los Gatos Creek Trail:
To a testing ride up Black Road and over the Saratoga Gap:
Doing this meant that I have been leaving home in the dark, and arriving home just before Page’s bedtime. All Page has known of me for the last two weeks has been “Dadda”, “Helmet”, “Bike”, “Work”, “Yight”. But both she and Alex have been a fantastic support crew. Alex has been cooking for me and buying me sugary treats. Last night, Alex and Page met me at Mount McPherson, the highest point of my ride, and drove behind me so that I could see. And then they drove me back down the hill. Going downhill gets no points from Strava, so I didn’t want to waste the effort, and besides, I couldn’t see …
To be honest, the physicality of the challenge has not been the hardest bit. The mental game of getting out of bed early and thinking about riding up a 10% grade, and doing that every single day was tough. Particularly with our late winter here. The first two days of my commute were very wet. Then my first Saturday ride was cut short because of snow. Then I got hail and snow on the Sunday … it rarely got better.
At least today was dry, and I completed the challenge by racing up Mt Pierce and passing another bemused cyclist on the way to work this morning.
Somehow I got competitive with this challenge. I had originally just aimed to complete it, but after the first couple of days I was in the top 100, so I just kept the scoreboard ticking over, and pegged my way up towards the top. I was able to get into 5th place at one stage, battling a couple of Utards. Unfortunately last night a Melbourne rider passed me to push me down to 6th. I know that I can’t complain about my weather more than his, so good luck to him.
I’m glad I did this challenge. The ride to work over Saratoga Gap is beautiful, with views over Monterey Bay, and either snow on the Redwoods, or occasionally sun streaming through them. Now it’s Alex’s turn!
(Amazingly, I got no flat tyres, and only one broken spoke slowed me down.)
