Mount Shasta Super Century

It was a hot day. The weather reported it as 86 degrees in the City of Mt. Shasta.

Amy's Quick Stats   Ride Distance: 138 miles   Elevation Gain: 16,100 feet   Average Moving Speed: 12.0 mph

John's Quick Stats   Ride Distance: 107.27 miles   Elevation Gain: 10,830 feet   Average Moving Speed: 12.6 mph

We started at 5:42 a.m. I rolled into the parking lot at 4:54 p.m. (over 11 hours later) mostly disappointed, but clinging to a minor accomplishment: I rode slightly farther and higher than last year's century. Amy, on the other hand, arrived triumphant at 6:19 p.m., literally cranking out the whole 138 miles and 16k feet of climbing in 12 hours and 37 minutes.

She did it with only 70 minutes of total rest time during the ride. I rested 2 hours and 40 minutes, but that was considerably inflated once I knew I wasn't going to be completing the whole ride.

Using a spreadsheet with all the slopes and distances I had estimated it would take us somewhere between 12 hours 24 minutes and 13 hours 4 minutes. Amy was smack in that window, even on such a hot day. Yes, we figured it would be sunny, but there is figuring it beforehand and then there is actually riding in it. She is a superstar in my book.

RIDE DATA:

NOTE: Looking at the data you can see that my heart rate numbers are wrong on the descents. Either I need a new monitor battery or the strap was too loose or too tight and didn't register correctly.

Okay, what happened? The sun happened. To me, anyway. Amy clearly thrives in the heat. Apparently I melt.

In the cool of the morning we easily climbed the first big climb, which was new to us since it isn't included in the standard century we rode last year. I kept Amy in my sights the whole time, and was still able to "take it easy on the first climb", so I was happy with things at that point. She took off from the rest stop at the top a bit before me, as planned, and I caught up no problem on the way down.

At that point we started the "putzing around" phase of the ride, as Amy called it. She meant that even though we were technically doing some climbing while going from Weed toward Lake Siskiyou to start the second big climb, it wasn't one of the four really big grades, so it was something akin to wasting time. This was where my trouble started to happen though. This "putzing around" was considerably harder on me than I was expecting. I had intended to recover somewhat during this stretch so that I would be strong for climbing up to Mumbo Summit, Climb No. 2.

The first part of the second climb we had done last year. I made it up to the mid-way rest stop (the turn-around point for century riders), but was struggling the whole way, and Amy had long since floated away out of sight. Afterward she said she didn't even stop at this rest stop, but I needed it badly. By this time I also knew that something was probably going to give on my ride this day. I thought about turning around here, but since I hadn't ever done the rest of this climb before, I thought it would be best to keep going. Plus, I would keep all my options open by riding the course as mapped before reaching Climb No. 3.

The remaining six miles up to Mumbo Summit were nasty indeed. I struggled badly, even with a considerable break at the prior rest stop. The grade was over 13 percent in areas. I probably resembled a pile of goo when I met Amy coming down about 3 miles from the top. I told her my new plan: I will skip Climb No. 3 to Castle Lake altogether and meet her at the lunch stop after she does that third climb.

I thought this was a good plan for several reasons. The Castle Lake climb is only 7 miles, so I could still get in a solid ride, pretty much a double metric, assuming I could finish the final climb up Shasta. Plus, I had already climbed to Castle Lake last year: been there done that. And I knew it was steep in spots. Not my cup of tea. More like Ipecac. Finally, I would get in ample resting at the lunch stop prior to the final climb. Of course, I was still in the middle of the climb to Mumbo Summit, but Amy brought good news: the grade does not stay this steep.

So I continued upward. Interestingly, I was not struggling to keep my heart rate down, which is often the case when I am climbing in the heat. Instead, I was just HOT and unable to get much out of my body. My heart rate was often even below my climbing zone. So I'm thinking I was probably also struggling with the altitude. I'm pretty sure I wasn't bonking as I was eating and drinking plenty. Occasionally pouring plain water on my back and head helped, but evidently not enough to really fix the heat problem.

At this point I changed my approach and decided to take plenty of rest at the stops since I was no longer trying to keep up with Amy. So when I got to the top I took a nice break under a canopy on a lounge chair. It was awesome! These folks know how to put on a ride. All the rest stops had shade and chairs, not to mention good food choices and ice cold water and Gatorade. Most rides don't have shade at the rest stops, and very few have a proper place to sit. Just one of the things that separates this ride from the rest.

On the way down I passed a car. This is only the second time I've ever done this (i.e. slow moving farm vehicles don't count!), and the first time was last year on the Castle Lake descent. There is just something special about passing a car while riding a bicycle. Of course a few miles later after the grade flattened out the Honda passed me back. I waved.

I went right by the Castle Lake turn off. I felt a little guilty, as I was feeling pretty good during the descent. But I had told myself earlier while climbing not to fall for it. Tricksy! False! Good Smeagle kept right on going straight to lunch.

I had a nice break and was mostly ready to go when Amy arrived.

She stopped long enough for me to get her some new water and Gatorade while she nibbled on something, and then she was ready to go.

The long rest was good. I felt okay starting out. But it wasn't too long before the hot sun on our backs began the roasting process. That and the minor tailwind, essentially matching our speed, so that there was absolutely no air movement. I had to pull off into some shade three different times in the first 3 or 4 miles. So my objective morphed into "doing more than last year". I already had the miles needed and mentally calculated if I made it to the first water stop I would also have sufficient elevation gain.

It was at this point that I saw what appeared to be a party going on in the middle of the road ahead. Okay, I know I'm hot, and heat exhaustion can cause some strange things, but I don't think this is a hallucination. As I got closer a lady asked if she could spray water on my back. I said "Sure!" and then next thing I know I am swarmed by half a dozen people dousing me with water from all sides. My brain was a little slow so the unexpectedness of it was a little terrifying, but then incredibly awesome once my brain caught up to the situation. I think part of the reason my brain had trouble catching up was because I had seriously sped up. No, it wasn't me. One of the guys ran behind me and pushed me up the hill several yards. Enough that I was able to change gears! It was quite an experience and extremely encouraging. I was unable to maintain that gear for long, but was now more motivated to make it to that rest stop.

At this point the highway up the mountain gradually turns to the right a full 180 degrees, which is of course seriously ironic as it matched the road temperature exactly, and eventually you are going mostly south instead of mostly north. This meant there was now a slight breeze and it helped me dramatically. That and the forest providing shade here and there.

Got to the water stop, turned my bike over to the valet, and took a rest. I saw several folks that we had been playing leapfrog with throughout the day, and of course Amy was way ahead of them all!

With my modified objective completed and now fully rested up, I got on my bike and headed down rather than up the mountain. This is where you experience the final really awesome thing about this ride: you don't have to pedal AT ALL to get back to the starting point. It is all downhill. Too bad you have to suffer so much to get to that point...

Actually, there was one more awesome thing they did for us: Lasagna! There isn't a better choice after a grueling ride.

While driving back to Central Point, Oregon after the ride we talked about all sorts of things, including how we are both feeling "done" with rides like this one. Understandable for me, but even Amy had this sentiment. She worked hard, really hard, to complete this ride, and now that she has done it she doesn't feel the need to ever do it again.

One of the things we both seriously disliked about today was riding so much of the ride apart from each other. Normally we are able to ride together, and that is one of the things we enjoy so much about cycling. So we are now seriously considering trying out a tandem bicycle. I don't think it would have been ideal on this ride, due to both my heat issue and also the really long grades. But on most other rides (that don't involved repeatedly climbing huge mountains) we think we are well-suited to riding a tandem together. Only one way to tell: time to start researching tandem bicycles!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading my long post little book about our day on bicycles in the sun.

RIDE MAP IN GOOGLE EARTH:

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