Yesterday, I crushed my first Century ride of the year.
The monster ride featured my simplest Century fuel plan and best big gear climbing segment to date.
Let’s dive in.
Yesterday’s Fuel Plan
My mental grasp on fueling and logistics has simplified massively as my reps on the bike have added up.
For my first Century, I spent hours calculating macros and food combinations. I even wore an enormous Patagonia fanny pack to carry everything.
You can read more about that on my old blog HERE.
For yesterday’s ride, I grabbed a few things that I know work, thew them in my jersey pocket and hit the road.
I rode with my OG riding homie Adam Holz and he reminded me of a good mindset lesson that EK shared on tackling monster rides:
“Don’t make it such a big deal”
Calorie Content:
Infinit Bottle: 600 calories of carbs
Hydro flask: 500 calories of carbs (pure maple syrup)
444 calories (440g carb + 4g protein) of medjool dates
Total Calories: 1,544
The plan was to stop at Kind Coffee in Estes Park at mile 60, so I knew I could grab something else if I needed/wanted it.
After the ~90 minute “Big G Climb” up Big Thompson Canyon, I earned a blueberry scone and cold brew.
“Big G Climbing”
My absolute favorite addition to my training over the past 12 weeks is Big Gear, Low Heart Rate climbing that Gordo got me on.
Check out Gordo’s Endurance Essentials below for more on how to execute these.
I call the “Big G Climbs” after him.
Segment Visual:
The segment started about 2:30 into my ride.
Segment Data 1:
120 avg HR
49 avg RPM
198 avg WATTS
Segment Data 2:
1:28:07 total time
17.9 total distance
This was the longest Big G Climb I’ve done.
It was also:
lowest HR
lowest RPM
highest WATTS
The climb kicked my ass and had some huge mental swings, but I came out on top.
Fuel Swap
I took a swig of the maple syrup (~50 calories) during the brief break of the Big G Climb. It was nasty.
When I started the ride, the maple syrup was cold and I expected it to be a refreshing source of fuel mid-ride.
After 3+ hours of warming from the heat radiating off my lower back, it didn’t hit the spot.
I figured the scone was around ~250-300 calories and would be a fine replacement.
Especially since this was an endurance ride and I was keeping my HR low.
Fuel Summary & Total Ride Data
I drank all 600 calories of Infinit and had all 444 calories of dates.
Adding in the scone, I estimate I had ~1,300 calories.
Moving Time: 5:51:28
Total Time: 7:17:08
That’s a little over 200 cals/hour of moving time and closer to 150 cals/hour if you consider total time I was out there.
HR avg: 116
Power avg: 170
Cadence avg: 73
Total Distance: 100.16
Total Elevation Gain: 5,377
Bonus Pics
A huge highlight of the ride was cruising into a herd of 100+ elk crossing the road as we left Estes Park.