Tripleshot Cycling

Josh.E wrote:The drive to vernon would be worth it to do the silver star mountain rd climb... you could even ride to vernon, do the climb, ride back.

Suckerrrrrrrr! That's me.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/45896370

Thanks to Josh for the excellent idea for a ride and to Al for the good word on Highway 97. I didn't wake up 'til 9:30 and the sensations were poor upon rising - it was a bit of a rough weekend - so the Merritt plan was not an option. I didn't get on the road 'til 2. I rode up Glenmore Rd. north from Kelowna 'til it gets close to 97 at Winfield and hopped onto the highway there. It seemed a bit too easy banging off the flat km's at 36 km/h plus so I was afraid it was a tailwind that was going to make me pay on the way back. The highway through Vernon itself is completely ripped up and does not really exist presently so it was a bit sketchy descending into downtown. I stopped at the Chevron and was shocked to find that they didn't have a 2-for-cheap Gatorade deal on offer at this time. This is the first time I have seen this and it is not acceptable. Dude there gave me good advice on a route through town to Silver Star, but I got lost and had to u-turn for a couple of km to start the climb. The climb was too hard for me so I quit about halfway up and lamely coasted back down in defeat. It's a nice climb. Not a consistent grade. My Gremlin Edge 500 said 13% at max. I don't have a HRM strap with me so I have to look inward to feel the sensations that must guide my effort. My old eastern bloc coach Dieter would be somewhat satisfied, almost. But I did like checking out the Gremlin's climbing rate readout. It seemed I could ride within myself if I kept the climbing rate at about 1100 m/hour. If I started getting up to 1200 it got tough. When I hit a nasty 10-13% bit, it shot up to almost 1400 m/hour and things got griZly fast. I probably try too hard on the steep stuff. Seems like I needed the grade to be about 8% to settle in at 1100-1150 m/h and that jives with rumours I've heard about 8% being the most efficient grade for crushing vert.

The climbs out of Vernon are a bit of a grind but not too bad. Tried to hammer the return trip all the way along 97 pretty hard. Felt good. Good ride. Despite the cop-out on the climb I managed 134 km and 1515 m positive vert so it's a decent step towards some proper long rides later in the trip.

I'm having a beer in the hotel now after a solid effort so life's good. Rock the box tomorrow TS'ers. Morning ride for me, then transferring to Penticton.

Awesome, man.

Sounds pretty epic. The 2nd half of silver star, however, is where it gets good. A lot more consistent than the first half, and I'm pretty sure that 13% max goes out the window too.

You are gonna be one scary mofo on the bike when you get back here.

Josh.E wrote:The 2nd half of silver star, however, is where it gets good.

There are those two mega-looking 180 switchbacks right after the point where I quit. Gotta try to get back there soon...