Diablo Challenge Report from Tim S. (2022)
The Diablo Challenge is an 11.2 mile race up Mt Diablo the first Sunday in October. To climb the 3189 vertical feel from the Athenian School to the summit in under an hour has been the unofficial standard for a fit climber and the official standard to earn the coveted “Under an Hour” T shirt, given out at the finish.
I have been doing the race on and off for the last 14 years. The race is a great test of fitness because of the TT aspect. The mountain is always the same height, the weather is very consistent, and there are no tactics like a crit or road race. It is just the rider climbing the hill.
My best time was 56 minutes about 10 years ago. In the meantime, my job became more involved, family responsibilities grew and stress eating maple old fashioned donuts became far too common.
2 years ago, I decided it was time to get back on the bike and sign up for the Challenge to stay focused on a goal. Knowing the Challenge was coming got me out on the road and limited the pastry intake. I rode without any real plan but made it to the start line in October and rode to a 1 hour and 6 minute summit. At the start, I saw people that I used to race with, that I had not seen in years. At the summit, a group of strangers from the Berkeley Bike Club group asked me to take their group photo. It was a blast. I decided to get more serious.
I joined the BBC and started riding harder on group rides. I met lots of new people, rode new routes and began getting more fit. At my first BBC holiday dinner, Nate English and I started talking about training and he mentioned he could help design a plan. He created a plan, put it in Training Peaks and I started to follow it, mostly. Often, I was having so much fun on group rides, I would ride with the group pace and not ride with the plan in mind. I made it to the Challenge feeling pretty good and weighing 13 pounds less than the prior year. Seemed like a slam dunk to get another T Shirt. I ended up alone for long stretches and let my mind wander and the power would fall off. I got to the top in 1 hour and 3 seconds. NoT- shirt. Time to get a little more serious.
For 2022, I decided to follow the training plan as closely as possible. The goal was to focus for a year in order to focus for an hour. Nate’s plan had me riding about 5 times a week. Every day had some sort of goal, usually with intervals of some kind to keep it interesting. Often the intervals were just a few accelerations or a few minutes at tempo, but always something to keep me engaged, focused and getting stronger. As time went on, Nate had me ride at wattage levels way above my usual, gradually increasing in length until I PR’ed all my favorite climbs- Grizzly, Redwood Rd, Tunnel, Pinehurst, Wildcat, Pumphouse, 3 bears, and more. Often hitting PRs while just doing an interval, not really trying for a PR. In order to stick with the plan, I had to skip the group rides, and I missed riding with Paul, Steve, Gwen, Hugh, Eric, Caedmon, Craig, Richard, Isiah and all the other cool people. But I stayed focused and stuck to the plan.
With the first Sunday in October just 2 weeks out, Hugh, Julia, Vinson and I did a dress rehearsal. We started at 8:30, just like the race and I simulated race day hydration and food intake, I practiced my warmup on the way to Athenian and wore the same clothes I planned to wear on race day. I hoped we would ride together to help stay focused, but Hugh took off like a rocket and the rest of us drifted apart and there I was alone above the junction, struggling to focus and keep the power up. For some reason my Garmin was not accurate, but I think I made it in about 62 minutes. I felt pretty good as far as fitness, but focus was absolutely the deal breaker. I focused for a year. Could I focus for an hour?
Raceday was perfect. I felt good, the warmup was good, my number was pinned on, the equipment was dialed in, air was slightly cool and I found some friends at the start to talk to. I brought a little backback and stripped my bike of all unnecessary accessories and put them in the pack for transport in the sag wagon to retrieve them at the top. My bike and I were lean and mean. I started in the second wave and rolled out making sure I resisted the urge to go full gas like many of the other riders. Pumped on adrenalin, many riders smash the first few steep hills and blow up promptly. I drifted to the back so I could get a clean line through the only fast downhill section just after the start. As soon as we took the left before the Southgate, where the steady climb begins, I stayed ultra-conscious of my wattage, setting last years wattage as my minimum and 15 watts above that as my maximum.
I watched as riders that went out too fast cracked and faded very early on. It would be a long day for them. As the riders settled, I grabbed on to a group including 3 or 4 CBRE juniors. The juniors cranked it up and I found I felt fine, but the wattage was above my target. I stayed focused and let them go. Those little rascals were strong. I was still with a nice little group when we hit Rockcity, the only place that drafting can help, at least for 5 minutes or so. I asked if they wanted to rotate but they didn’t respond and surged for a while and then slowed, so I went around them, and they disappeared in the rear view mirror after the right hander where the climbing begins again. Coming up and around the junction, I felt oddly comfortable. I wondered if maybe my power meter was not accurate, if I was going slower than the plan, but at 28:30ish, everything seemed on track. But I know that a good Diablo effort starts under control and the test comes in the second half.
The test came about 10 minutes after the junction. With 40 minutes of steady effort in the legs and 20 minutes to go, I couldn’t stay comfortable, and focus started to drift. My hamstrings would get tight and I would stand, then the quads would start burning and my heart rate and power would spike, I would sit again and notice power dropping. This cycle repeated and I started losing confidence. In the past, when I hit Devil’s Elbow, I know I can make it. I just had to keep pushing to the elbow. After the elbow is mentally easy, just make it to the crosswalk, then the radio tower sign, the parking lot, then the wall. Home free. Just gotta stay strong until the elbow. I need to stay focused and not take any breaks, I am not finishing 3 seconds off pace again. No way.
Then I saw Eli Tanner, looking strong wearing his black BBC kit. Eli was long and lean, dumping sweat and staying focused, his face showing the effort. He would push just ahead, then we would ride side by side, then I would pull ahead, then he would come back. He was clearly putting out all he had and kept me pushing and focused until we hit the Elbow. I started to feel pretty good again and we both knew we were only a few minutes from the summit and cranked it up. With the wall coming up, you can’t really sprint, but it was time to lay out all we had left. Eli and I pushed hard and finished strong up the wall.
I finished in 58:34 and PR’ed both halves of the ride. It was a beautiful day to race with a teammate and help each other hit our goals. I must thank Nate for designing a perfect plan for me and giving me great advice in language I could understand. I also want to thank John Cheetham from Tempo Endurance for spending hours adjusting my bike fit. The whole experience of training for the Challenge was a lesson that transcends bike riding. Pushing the envelope and learning about yourself is the real reward. Thanks for reading.
Report from Tim S.
https://www.mountdiablochallenge.org/
https://www.englishendurance.com/