Confessions Of A Closet Compression Sock Wearer

Hi, my name is Mike and I'm addicted to endurance sports. It's the good sort of addiction. You know, the kind that gives you: killer calves, a resting heart rate in the upper 40s, and the ability to eat whatever you want without gaining weight (at least during peak training!).

The problems begin when you hit plateaus and want to get stronger, faster, and gain better endurance. How do you increase the workload when you're already riding 250+ miles per week, swimming a few times and running once in a while? You have to find a way to recover faster! This is why compression socks have become popular in the last few years among triathletes.

Here's a useful link detailing the science:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-compression-socks.htm

I've been a bit skeptical of the benefits of compression socks, given that I'd only seen them at races being worn by dorky looking folks. Why would you wear knee high white socks (and perhaps arm sleeves as well) in a race? I'd always just thought of them as the latest in the average triathlete's attempt to differentiate themselves from other cyclists and runners out there. Is this just the latest fad? Will it go the way of sticking gel blocks to your top tube or peeing down your leg during the bike? Will the companies that make compression socks start making them look cool? Actually, they've already started. I'm just waiting for the purple ones with green polka dots on them before I'll wear them in a race... ; )

Following the Devil Mountain Double, I realized that the compression socks might be worthwhile for there other purpose; assisting in recovery from traumatically long rides. So I did a little research on the subject:

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=13830

As it turns out, they aren't really useful for during the actual race; but are defintely helpful after the race. So I decided to give them a try...

Unfortunately, I didn't pick up a pair until a couple of days after the DMD, so can't give a complete picture of how they have worked so far. But I will certainly try them after the Davis 24-hour Challenge next weekend to see how they work out.

I can tell you though, that my legs did feel better on Wednesday than they did on the Wednesday after the DMD last year. But whether that's the compression socks or just being better trained this year I can't really say. I'll certainly post more comments as I try them out.

Oh, and here's what I got. They were $28 at Sports Basement.



http://www.sockgeek.com/showproduct.aspx?ProductID=162&SEName=sugoi-socks-rr-knee-high-compression

Whipping The Devil Again?

Of all of the double centuries that I have done, the Devil Mountain Double is by far the hardest of the lot. Riding 200 miles in a day is hard enough even before you throw in 18,600 feet of climbing; so why would you increase the suffering?

Apparently, for some people the "easier" doubles aren't hard enough. So they seek harder challenges. And then us mere mortals come along and seek to challenge ourselves with these crazy rides.

I've certainly done harder rides than the Devil Mountain Double, but it was only a year ago that the DMD was the longest ride I had ever done (soon eclipsed by the Central Coast Double, then the LA Grand Tour Triple and the HooDoo 500). And it has far more climbing percentage-wise than any of those other rides. So the suffering may be of a shorter distance, but it's far more intense!

And so it was that Joan and I found ourselves waking up well before 4:00 AM on a perfectly nice Saturday morning to make our way to San Ramon for the start of the craziest (or maybe second craziest, I'm not sure how bad Alta Alpina is!) double on the California Triple Crown schedule.

Starting out at 5:00 AM we quickly made our way to Mount Diablo and the first climb of the day. The climb re-enforced my opinion from last year that Diablo is one of the finest climbs in the Bay Area. It has great views, nice roads, and is a great place to watch a sunset! Of course, the park doesn't open normally until sunrise so you won't get to see it unless you camp there.

At the top, I paused just long enough to refill my water and grab a bite to eat (and take some for the road). From there, the descent is relatively nice until you get onto the North Gate Road heading down into Walnut Creek. From there, the road has some tight corners and rough sections but isn't all that long so it passes quickly. From Walnut Creek the route heads over to Clayton and then up Morgan Territory Road for the second climb of the day.

Morgan Territory has been resurfaced since last year so it's not so bad any more. It's still rough, but at least there aren't as many loose sections of surface. Overall a very nice climb, with a few steep pitches at the end. All this leads to a rest stop almost at the top, and then a screaming descent down into the Livermore Valley.

At the bottom, you get a surprising number of miles of flat roads before heading up Altamont Pass. Altamont is a lovely easy climb, especially when it is acting as a wind tunnel. Which it was this day! Going 20+ MPH uphill just feels good! =)

After crossing to the other side of the pass, the route turns south and over to Patterson Pass Road. This is fairly protected from the wind, and on a warm day it can be quite hot up there. This was the case, at least as I perceived it. Just like last year, I began to suffer a bit going up Patterson. And it wasn't the climbing, just the heat. But when you see the top, you know that you're in for a treat. The descent back into Livermore is another fun one.

From Livermore, the course heads south on Mines Road deep into the mountains northwest of Mount Hamilton. The first few miles are flat before crossing a bridge and arriving at a rest stop. Refueled with cookies and chips I headed off up the hill and into the hottest part of the day. Most of the climbing on Mines Road comes early, but it does go on for quite a while. Unfortunately, we didn't have the breeze this year that was there last year. So the suffering was there as well! But I did eventually make it over the top and down the short hill to Junction, where the lunch stop is, at mile 116.

At the rest stop, I ate way too much. It's always tempting on these rides to gorge yourself at the rest stops, but it's not a good idea... But the turkey sandwich tasted great, as did the chips, french fries, brownie bites, watermelon V8 Juice and Mountain Dew. Oh well, some times you have to learn things the hard way! Joan caught up with me there, so I decided to wait and ride the rest with her (she was perhaps 10 minutes behind me coming into lunch.

After she was done, we got back on our bikes and headed off to Mount Hamilton. The road goes through some wonderful rural areas around here. And over some minor hills of course! The only bad part of the road through here is all the cattlegaurds. But they're easy enough to clear if you just lift your front wheel up and semi-hop over them, keeping the weight off of your seat!

Once we got to the main climb up Mount Hamilton, the suffering began in earnest. My stomach was giving me grief for all of the food and the heat was sapping my energy big time. With that, it's not too bad that I had to stop a few times during the climb. But reaching the top was a great reward as was the cold sparking juice at the the rest stop!

From there we headed off down one of my least favorite descents in the area. Mount Hamilton Road is just too windy and dirty (rocks on a lot of the corners) to be fun. At least the final part is on good road! After the detour (uphill of course!) to the Crothers Road rest stop, we were off to the hardest climb of the day, Sierra Road!

I've had a love-hate relationship with Sierra Road since the first time I climbed it (2001?). It shuts me down some times, and I crush it other times. This time was closer to the former. I felt somewhat okay at the bottom, but started to fall apart about a mile up the hill. Then I started getting cramps in my gracilis (muscle on the inside of the thigh). Not fun! So I walked a few sections trying to stretch out the muscles. Finally I made it to the last rise before the top, and remounted my bike to ride the last little bit. Then we headed off to the "Pet The Goat" rest stop.

This was where I started having problems with my brakes. Descending Calaveras, I couldn't get my bike to stop shuttering when I would brake. After the short climb up the Calaveras Wall, I stopped to see if I could fix the brake as it was getting to a dangerous point. Fortunately, all I had to do was re-tension the cable on the back brake since the pad still had some life in it. After that, no problems though I did keep the speed in check because I was getting rather tired (go figure!).

After riding Calaveras down into Sunol we got the famous hot dog and chili treatment there. Those two foods are just about the most appealing thing towards the end of a long ride. Then we headed off down Niles Canyon Road (which really could double as a Pinball Board given the way it feels to ride it, especially after dark!).

After making the sharp right turn onto Palomares Canyon Road we found ourselves on a quiet and dark road that felt a lot harder than I remember it from last year! The hill just seemed to go on and on, even though I knew that it should feel so bad! I'd done it just a couple of weeks prior. But it still hurt, and seemed to take far too long. From the top, it's a nice descent down and into Castro Valley. This part of the ride isn't fun, so fortunately it's not all that long. Once the route leaves Crow Canyon Road for Norris Canyon Road, it goes back to its quiet feel.

Even the climb of Norris Canyon seemed a lot harder this year. But fortunately it's only 2.4 miles long and has a great descent on the other side. Then it's just a quick trip through western San Ramon and across 680 to the finish at the Marriot.

Total time was 18:22 for 206 miles with 18600 feet of climbing.

At the finish, we enjoyed our sparkling apple cider, pasta and brownies. It sure felt good to be done, even though we were bother rather thrashed. Fortunately I was able to stay alert enough to drive home that night.

The next day we of course got to sit around and enjoy doing nothing. La Bamba has rarely tasted so good! And sitting by a fountain with our feet in the water was a small taste of heaven.

Le Tour Grand

Since my boss asked me this morning why I would subject my body to the torture of riding for 22 hours straight, I will attempt an answer. Yes, this will be something short and sweet like George Mallory's response to the question about why he wanted to climb Mount Everest ("Because it's there.")...

What good is life if you can't discover what your seemingly frail body is capable of?

Well, there you have it... Now, on to the biggest ride of my life so far. The 50th LAW Grand Tour. This is the grand-daddy of the ultra cycling events at least in America. This was staged as the first double century way back in 1959. Since then, the double has sprouted a couple of evil siblings; a triple and a quadruple century.

If there wasn't a time limit, the quad might be a worth goal. But riding 400 miles in less than 24 hours is a pretty hefty accomplishment. I haven't even yet done a double at that pace!

The night before the ride, Joan and I got a pizza from a most outstanding restaurant in Canoga Park. The "Brooklyn Pie" from Red Balls Pizza is quite possibly the best pizza I have ever had. We each had a slice for dinner before attempting to go to sleep rather early. Waking up at 3:00, we quickly got ready and headed off to Malibu for the start. At 4:30, we started into the Highland Triple course. Never having done a triple, my goal was just to finish in a reasonable time.

For the first 25 miles or so, the route follows the Pacific Coast Highway in a beautiful place. The problem is that we were riding in the dark and could not see much of the scenery around us. The most common sound was the waves crashing on the shore. Coming into Oxnard, we had one of the highlights of the ride: riding between strawberry fields replete with ripe berries. I find it hard to imagine a smell better than fresh strawberries on a long ride (though riding past a hamburger stand about 200 miles later was pretty close!).

The big climb of the day came around not too much later. The climb up Portrero is quite nasty despite being less than three miles. The brunt of the climbing comes up towards the top, where the grade gets up to 25% at one spot! That can be brutal even in a car... But we managed to make it over the climb without too many problems, though my glasses did fog up enough that I had to stop at the top to clear them up.

Between that climb and the hill before Ojai, the route travels mostly through residential areas. Not bad, but it makes you appreciate how crowded southern California can be. At mile 70, we even rode past the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Riding past places like In-n-Out and Tommy's just made the hunger pangs grow in anticipation of the next rest stop...

After Santa Paula, the climb over the ridge to Ojai begins. The climbing is not that bad, but the temperature had gotten a bit on the warm side. So I suffered anyway. Coming down into the valley, we made our way into town and to the park where the lunch stop was at. Never has a simple bean and cheese burrito tasted so good. And of course everything else I ate tasted good as well. I figure that I ate somewhere around 1000 calories at that rest stop and washed it down with 150 calories worth of Dr. Pepper. Just one of the joys of ultracycling...

After leaving town, the course loops around Lake Casitas and over a couple more relatively minor climbs. This was a nice place to ride, though a bit smoggy. After the second of those climbs, the major climbs are over for the ride. Only a bunch of rolling hills remain. At Carpenteria, we turned north whilst the double riders turned south and back towards the finish. We still had an extra 97 mile out-and-back-course to ride before making that same trek back to the finish. So we turned north and through Santa Barbara and then onto Highway 101 for the stretch into Gaviota. Fortunately, the freeway has a very wide shoulder so it never felt unsafe to be there. But of course, cars whizzing past at 75 is a bit unnerving even if they are 20 or more feet away... Of course, the headwind we were facing didn't do much to encourage us.

After the turnaround, we headed back somewhat with the wind (unfortunately, the wind was dying down at the end of the day) fueled by cookies and fresh water. Then, not too far before the rest stop in Goleta, I got a flat tire on the front. So we had to stop on the side of the road to fix that. I used one of my air cartridges just so it wouldn't take too long to get moving again. I was getting to the point where stopping for longer than 10 minutes is a bad idea.

In Goleta, we refueled on cup-o-soup and fresh fruit and then started into the drudgery of riding into the darkness again (with somewhere around 80 miles still to ride...). Despite the sometimes confusing course (thanks to hard to read street signs), we made decent time back to Carpenteria. There we got more fuel and encouragement from the volunteers working the stop. And from here on to the finish, we rode with a guy named Phil who seemed to be suffering just as bad as I was.

Riding through Ventura had to be the hardest part. And it wasn't the difficulty of the riding. The route is hard to follow in places and the part along a bike path is difficult to ride fast due to the dips in the trail. But we still made it through and back to the last rest stop in Port Hueneme. There we had some delicious hot soup and plenty of other high-calorie goodies to keep us going for the last 35 miles.

From there, the route turned into a slog for me. That was probably the most tired I've been. And the fact that my legs were feeling like they might start cramping at any moment. But as long as I kept pedaling, they kept working; so who am I to complain?

All those miles from the morning along the PCH were repeated in the opposite direction. And I still couldn't see the scenery. But knowing that the finish was getting close kept me going. Well that, and the fact that I was riding with Joan.

With about 20 miles to go, we were passed by the first of the quad riders (he ended up with a time of 21:40! That's four consecutive 5:25 centuries... Crazy!). He was absolutely flying. The rolling hills kept coming, and at every one I would think that this had to be the last one. But it wasn't until I saw the do not enter sign on a side road that I knew we were almost there. And then came the entrance to Pepperdine University on the left. And there it was at last our exit from the highway. And then the very last hill; the one up into the parking lot of Malibu City Hall where the start/finish for the ride is.

After resting a bit at the finish (and having some excellent cake to help celebrate the 50th Grand Tour) we headed back to Canoga Park and the Motel 6. Once there we of course took much needed showers and settled in for two more slices of pizza each. and then off to sleep. Of course, that only lasted for 4.5 hours, and then we ate the rest of the pizza and went off on our way home.

During the ride we stopped for brunch (chili burger and milkshakes at Tommy's in Valencia) and did much snacking (chips, soda, brownie, etc...). Good stuff! Then once we got back into the Santa Clara Valley, we went over to La Bamba for a burrito and then off to the Stanford Theatre to watch Breakfast At Tiffany's. Altogether an outstanding weekend. I was incredibly sore and tired the next day; but it was worth every moment. Our total time was 22 hours give or take a minute or two. And I think the ride time was in the 19:30 range.

Here's the route map... And below that will be a map showing what 300 miles looks like on a relatively straight highway (Red Bluff to Fresno in this case)...