D2R2

Well, nothing like starting a cycling blog on the eve of D2R2. D2R2 is a randonnee- see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randonn%C3%A9e ridden primarily on dirt roads. This I'm sure will be my toughest ride to date or shall I say, my life. I got the cue sheets from Don yesterday and they could almost pass for a small town's phonebook. Ok, maybe not, but it looks like a navigational nightmare with turns every two tenths of a mile with some "roads" resembling narrow driveways. 112 miles and change with over 15000 ft. of climbing. The email I received says that it should take someone doing a century in 5 hours roughly 40% longer to complete D2R2. This I suppose is "good" news seeing that I did the Tour of Litchfield Hills (7000+ ft. of climbing) in 4:55 and at least 50 miles were solo. I'm guessing that saddle time will be in the neighborhood of 8.5-9 hours factoring in terrain and climbing. I've heard the route will be well-marked (unlike in past years) but given the logistical nightmare with the directions, I'm going to try and hang with a group of similar ability riders.



My crossbike (Giant TCX with Easton Carbon fork, pics to come) has been built up beautifully by Josh (superior bike mechanic and owner of Cycleworx in Litchfield, CT). I think out the door weight was 18 and change. I went with all aluminum Easton stuff (stem, handlebars, seatpost) and currently I'm running Ultegra STI shifters, Paul Neo Retro brakes, Ultegra SL Compact Cranks, rear and front derailleurs, and a 12-30 IRD rear cassette. (I'll throw my single 42 on for CX season) Fortunately, Josh got the 30 to work with the standard road rear derailleur which avoids having to throw on the XT. The shifting is much snappier (as expected) than when I was running the 34 with the XT RD at the Ascutney hillclimb. For some reason the Dura Ace rear derailleur will not work with the 30 tooth cog but the Ultegra does. I'm not sure of the mechanics there. I may sell the 11-34 IRD due to the fact that I did not like the gear ratios. On Ascutney, I found myself almost spinning out in the 34 (well, not really) and the 28, which is the next cog down, forced me out of the saddle on the steeper pitches. I'm sure I'll be stronger by next year so I probably will be fine with the 12-30 at the hillclimb events I decide to do. Not to mention, I'll save a few grams going from XT to Ultegra SL derailleurs.



Doug Jansen, highly esteemed hillclimb afficianado and creator of http://www.northeastcycling.com/ has been a great help over the last few months with all my questions in regards to gearing and training for hillclimbing. If you have any interest in bicycle hillclimbing his is the most comprehensive site out there. I finally met him at the inaugural Race for Grace Okemo hillclimb earlier this summer after alot of correspondence via the web. It was my first hillclimb event and I decided to go with a compact (34/50) and a 12-27 giving me a 34-27 as my minimum gear ratio despite Doug suggesting that I gear down close to 1:1. I asked him point blank:



Alex: Doug, I'm running a compact with a 27 in the back. Am I screwed?



Doug: (sigh) Well, you're going to suffer in the middle.



Alex: Great.



Suffer and suffer I did. There were extended sections of 15% where I might have hit 40 rpms if I was lucky. I think my average HR was in the mid to high 170s despite the fact that the first two miles were pancake flat. I should have lapped the actual climb on my Garmin. Well, anyway, the lesson here is: 'tis better to have more gears than to have none at all. I still finished 7th overall which I suppose isn't too bad for my first hillclimb considering also I was way overgeared.



Ascutney went fairly well. I think final results had me at 21st overall out of like 160 or 180 something. My time was 32 and change so my goal next year (yes, I'm going back) is to bust the 30 minute barrier. I didn't exactly taper for that one as I think I logged well over 200 miles in the week prior with some pretty intense group races, oops I mean, rides. Our group rides are generally in the 20 mph avg. range with usually 100 ft. of climbing per mile ridden. Not exactly easy. Like I said previous, I didn't have enough gears at Okemo and not the right ones on Ascutney. The gear spacing on the 12-30 is much more to my liking as I believe it goes 30-27-25-23- etc. I guess 3 times will hopefully be a charm. Congratulations to Doug by the way for his 10th overall at Mt. Washington despite major mechanical. See his account here:

http://hilljunkie.blogspot.com/2008/08/mt-washington-emotional-rollercoaster.html#links

Maybe I'll throw it down on Washington one of these years.



Back to D2R2. The quandary I'm now looking at is tire selection. The website says at least a 28 mm tire is recommended. I have 28 mm Continental Gatorskins or I could go with the Michlein Jets which are 30 mm. My test ride last night was with the Jets. When I got back I threw on the Contis and spun around a little bit and just kept them on. I'll bring the Jets anyway if I opt for a last minute swap. Doug told me to go with the 28s and due to some painful history of NOT listening to his advice, I'll stay with the 28s. The weather looks like it's going to cooperate tomorrow so camping with Em should be fun. I can just taste that post D2R2 Blue Moon now. Ride report to come.