100 miles, 10,000ft ascent, so many opportunities to quit
Riding the bike for 100miles through the Pales Verdes (PV) hills of Southern Los Angeles has been one of the hardest challenges I have ever faced, both physically and mentally. The idea first came to me late summer as I wanted to do a century ride that had at least 10,000ft or more of total ascent. I had been doing a few rides in PV, mainly riding the PV drive loop up to the domes and slowly started adding a few additional climbs such as the Hawthorne Blvd/Del Cero Park climb and the Campesina/Silver Spur climb. The end result was a single ~50 mile loop with three big climbs, exceeding over 5000ft in total ascent.
The PV loop consists of the following (clockwise) route: PV Dr West, Hawthorne Blvd/Del Cero Park climb and descent, PV Dr South, PV Dr East/Domes climb, PV Dr North, Via Campesina/Silver Spur climb, Hawthorne Blvd descent and clockwise PV Dr West return to starting point of loop. Ofcourse you can mix it up and attack the course in a counterclockwise direction as well for entirely new perspectives and challenges.
The first major climb of the loop, Hawthorne Blvd/Del Cero Park, is a brutally long 4.4 mile trek of almost 1000ft up to a very nice scenic overlook towards Catalina. Although not the toughest climb of the ride (mainly because of the fresh legs), the length of it makes it a good fun challenge. The view at the end is definitely worth the work as well (a nice overlook on Catalina Island).
Following a quick descent on Hawthorne Blvd and continuing going East on PV Dr past the Trump golf course, the second major climb takes place going up PV Drive East to the domes. This is another 1000ft climb spanned over about 3.5 miles. This is rewarded with some more nice views, particularly of the San Pedro harbor area closer to the top of the climb.
The final concentrated climb of the loop is the Via Campesina/Silver Spur climb that starts at the original starting point of the loop (Malaga cove) and loops back to Hawthorne Blvd. The Campesina part of the climb is fairly tame, but the Silver Spur Rd portion will kick your butt. All three big climbs offer nearly 3000ft of elevation gain over less than 12 miles. The rest of the 48 mile loop offers an additional ~2000ft of total climbing for a grand total of ~5000ft. The additional 200 some ft of elevation gain occurs on the ride to and from my place in Torrance to the starting point of the loop.
After completing one full loop for the first time, I knew it was only a matter of time before I would send myself through the gauntlet of riding it back to back. It would be a massive training ride, and one that would help me in building my mental toughness and never quit mindset as much as my physical capabilities. I took a stab at it on early in December, and it ended up being not only the hardest physical test of my life, but the hardest mental challenge as well.
This ride would be entirely self supported, so I had to take enough supplies to last me the entire day. My running pack was stuffed with a 2.5L camelback bladder, 8 bonkbreaker bars, 10 Gu Gels, and a handful of SaltStick. I also had packed a sweet lunch (double PB&J&banana sandwich for the win), to be consumed between loops.
Started at the break of dawn around 0700, I was grateful to be joined by one of my new training partners, David Ashley, for the first 2/3rds of the first loop. This was his first big road ride back in a long time and he really put out a great effort. We split at the start of the Campesina/Silver Spur Rd climb and I finished the first loop solo in a little over three hours.
After taking a 20 minute break to eat my lunch, I started out on the second loop. Immediately I felt the fatigue in my legs and realized how tough that second loop was going to be. With heavy legs, I started the first Hawthorne Blvd/Del Cero climb. About halfway up that climb, I ran into a feeling that was fairly new and strange to me. I have never wanted to quit a challenge so badly in my life. I pulled over to the side of the road to compose myself before grinding on to finish the climb.
This desire to quit came up again and again during the next two big climbs. I’d stop about halfway through and go through the thought process in my head. Weighing the pros and cons about completing the ride. During each big climb, i could just turn around and coast down the hill, take a big shortcut, and finish the ride early with some easy pedaling back toward the starting point.. Ultimately however, the pros won out. This was the hardest physical and mental test I had taken on yet. It was harder than the IronMan I had completed a few months before. I was doubling my previous largest ascent ride, there were no spectators or people cheering you on here, there was no fancy finisher medal or athlete village waiting for you at the finish line, and you didn’t pay a large entry fee for this ride (always a good motivator to finish). This was all about proving to myself I could push my mind and body further than I had thought possible. This was all about setting a new baseline.
The second loop took me almost an hour longer than the first. The total ride ended up lasting a hair under 7 hours, though the total time out on the road was closer to 8 hours including the lunch break and the multiple pity stops along the second loop to recompose myself. I left a piece of my soul on those hills, but what I got in return is absolutely priceless.
The key point about growth is to always keep challenging yourself, to never settle for an easy way out, and to built calluses on your mind. This is done through suffering and sacrifice. Always try and raise your baseline. After this 100 miles/10,000ft ascent ride, any other century with less climbing seems easy to me. That is the competitive mindset you want to build, while at the same time never being content with where you are now, but always fight and take on new challenges to become a better version of yourself.
