Today was the Mt. Diablo Challenge, a non USAC race up to the summit. They get about 1,000 riders and it's a very well run event. It didn't take long for things to sort out with Zteam's Nate English putting the hammer down early. His teammate Justin Laue and I were only able to stay on his wheel for about 8 minutes before we had to let him go and settle into our own pace. Justin and I traded pulls until we were abut 15 minutes from the top when I ran out of steam and had to let him go too. I slowed to my own pace and was able to hold off yet another Zteamer, Steve O'Mara for 3rd. At least I was the first somewhat old guy.Nate rode 43:33, and destroyed Greg Drake's course record by 1:25. Someone has already made the change on Wikipedia! Way to go Nate!
Also, congratulations to Jody & Steve Archer for destroying the tandem record, riding 55 min and change!
I downloaded a neat little app for my iPhone called trailguru that tracks distance, speed, route & elevation. Maybe not as accurate or as detailed as the Garmin or other similar devices, but it's not bad for something on a phone that I carry anyway.
Here's the link.
I started it a few minutes early and stopped it a few minutes late, so the time is off by 6 minutes.
Now it really is the off season. Nothing hard for a while, at least until I have to race Hutch up Ink Grade at the Bikes for Tots ride on October 18.
5 comments:
Yeah the Mt. Diablo Challenge was sweet!
It's cool that you use TrailGuru, I was using it for a while but recently switched to Fitnio for recording my rides.
Fitnio does all of the same stuff as TrailGuru but also gives an estimated calories burned, which is pretty cool.
Do you keep your iphone in a pocket when you ride or did you find a way to mount it on your bike?
I just keep it in a zip lock bag in a jersey pocket. I'll have to check out Fitnio, thanks.
Yeah, the way he's been riding, I would've been shocked if Nate English didn't win and break the record.
Congrats on the podium and enjoy the off-season. I'm really getting into the running btw, and looking at doing some of the PA/USATF XC series races which culminate the weekend before Thanksgiving. Maybe see you there?
I was at the summit when Nate finished in new record time, this was awesome. Congratulations to all of you !
Greg - I don't know if I'll get back to running fast enough to do any PAXC races, but I've always liked the Tamalpa Challenge course, so maybe.
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