Taco Tuesday is Dead

This is what it looks like when you ride at night:



Lots of people every week go out and enjoy Taco Tuesday. Not me. The last three weeks Taco Tuesday has been replaced with Torture Tuesday. Night rides up Blackstar with a group of guys that I cannot for the life of me keep up with. Haha. I find myself breathing heavy, pushing hard and watching as the lights of the leaders slowly pull away. Torture Tuesday.

Ok, maybe that's a bit dramatic. All in all a fast pace is good for me. Makes me stronger and gets me into better shape. It is tough on the old morale though.

Last night 7 of us rode Coal Canyon-Blackstar. There is nothing to report as far as fun sections or any of that. Just some thoughts on what last nights ride means in regards to Vision Quest.

1. Vision Quest has 11,200 feet of climbing. I only did 6,000 last night. Could I basically do another lap? I'm sure I could do another lap, but it would be a nightmare. A total and complete nightmare. Something like having an ex-girlfriend die and then her soul takes over your dog. Your dog now can talk and you can't kill it because you can still see what used to be your dog. Nightmare.

2. I was happy that my overall time was about 20 minutes faster than the last time I did Coal Canyon, but I'm not sure it's fast enough. 3:40 for 6,000 feet of climbing. I'd have to do another lap at the exact same pace to hit my Vision Quest goal of under 7:30. Yikes.

3. The nutrition seemed to really pay off last night. I don't know what it was but I didn't seem to fade too much towards the end of the ride. I started to be able to keep up with other guys the longer the ride went. I was proud to slowly catch up more and more as the ride went on. (Granted I was beat to the first few rest spots, so maybe "catch up" isn't the right phrase)

4. I'm wondering if there is different types of climbing. I mean isn't 1,000 feet of climbing the same no matter what? In other words if we want to compare time vs. elevation, doesn't it come out the same? For example if I want to climb 1,000 feet over 10 miles, I can go very fast because the average grade over 10 miles is low. If I want to climb 1,000 feet in a mile I will go slow, but I climb faster.

Which scenario is faster? I believe that the overall energy spent is less with the easier grade, so maybe that adds up to faster times over the course of a long ride?

I'm just to reconcile the idea that I felt tired after a 3:40 ride with 6,000 feet and I don't see how I could sustain that pace for another 6,000 feet of climbing. Something has to give.

(I finally passed my revised goal of 2,500 miles. New goal for the year is 2,675 which would give me 1,000 more miles than I had last year. Should get that easily.)