In preparation for Death...ride

Our last training ride before the Death Ride was held yesterday during what turned out to be a gorgeous cycling day. I had to wake up entirely too early to meet in Salt Lake at 6:00 but I have to admit it was nice to beat the heat for the two of three major climbs of the day.

I am thankful I was...um...how would I say...suggested to do this one last ride on Sunday even though I had just done a 95 mile ride Friday. The biggest reason: Ride statistics show that we actually climbed as much as the Death Ride in 30 less miles and 2 less climbs. That means we worked harder yesterday than we're going to Saturday. That is good. That is really good for physical and more importantly mental conditioning.

Comparing the elevation chart on yesterday's ride at http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6182144 vs the Death Ride at http://deathride.com/elemap.html you can see we climbed for longer durations, which translates less breaks between climbs, which translates to less recovery time, which means it was tougher. Work with me here.

Now to get ready for a 1200+ mile road trip...