Start of Endurance Block Two: Kitt Peak--There and Back Again

See the entire Kitt Peak photo galery here.

This weekend was the first week of the second endurance block in the training plan, and it got off to a pretty good start.  This five week block is broken up by Christmas, and has its three big back-to-back weekends scheduled around the family visit and Christmas Day.  From a progression standpoint, it's the block that raises the bar from 5 hour/7 hour weekend blocks to 6-7h/8-10 h.  I expected it would be difficult the first week, and it was a challenge.  When I had the opportunity to join some of the University of Arizona (UA) cycling team on a round trip to Kitt Peak on Sunday, I jumped on the opportunity.   It would be a 140 mile round trip from the house.

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Kitt Peak is an awesome climb, and underappreciated compared to the more popular Mt. Lemmon.  The fact that the Mt. Lemmon climb starts from the edge of town, while Kitt Peak is a 40 mile ride to the base is probably the reason.  But, Kitt Peak is a spectacular climb, 12 miles at 5-8%, nice wide smooth roads, and almost no traffic.    Riding with the UA cycling and triathlon guys was a real pleasure.  I started cycling seriously 32 years ago when I was in college, so it's like a journey in time to ride with them.  I feel blessed to be still be able to keep up with college cyclists.  Seeing first hand the impact collegiate cycling has on the sport, and these guys college experience was just fabulous and this led to several very enjoyable conversations along the way.

Assessing the week, it feels like a great start.  The Edge evaluation and Maria Crawford's support Friday (see my previous Blog on that here), and Sunday's epic ride up Kitt Peak is a great start.   The progression on the weekend doubles is on track.  It still leaves me doing the math twice when I realize I rode 112 miles Saturday, 144 today, and 477 miles this week--but the training plan has made that feel pretty straight forward.    I'm tired tonight, but its about the level of fatigue I feel like I should have.

I'm still not eating enough on the bike... I "only" ate 2520 calories on the bike today, that's 325 calories an hour.  The ride was 4790 calories!  That deficit over the course of a RAW day would accumulate to almost 7000 calories, and over the entire event to 21,000 calories.  I still need to eat more, even if my riding partners already think I am this overpacked rolling panty.  Next week, I start experimenting with my homemade Keto Butter/Honey Stinger Gel combo.  I'm hoping this will get the carb/fat ratio I want, and the caloric density I can carry. 

​My RAW Story, Day 36.  176 days, 16 hours to RAW 2019.

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