The Nifty Ten-Fifty

I have some important mid-season road races coming up in the next 2 months, and being a bit behind in endurance and power training, I opted today to skip a short circuit race in favor of the Nifty Ten-Fifty.

The name simplifies the goals of the ride: To climb ten thousand feet in fifty miles. Today’s official route is about 52 mi. for around 9700 feet of climbing. My 63 mile ride included a few wrong turns, resulting in a bit over 11-thousand feet of climbing. With a 180-mile week that included interval training and hill repeats, I had 19.5K of elevation.

Organizers offer .tcx and .gpx files you can install on your gps device to follow the complex route, through the rugged Berkeley and Oakland hills, on your own, but it’s best to stumble upon a group who are doing the ride and are more familiar with the twists and turns.

I parked a few miles between the start and finish so I could warm up before meeting up for the official start at 9:30 am.

The climbing segments are the main challenge, so there is friendly regrouping at the top, before rolling onward to the next hill.

I settled in with a nice group of a dozen or so, many of whom are on the UC Berkely race team. The overall pace for the day was pretty slow, but the camaraderie was invaluable as the consecutive climbs beat us up. Most of the climbing segments were in the 13% range, with pitches up to 20%.

I hoped to avoid spending an entire day with cycling-related antics by staying closer to home and avoiding the four to five hour round trip commute to the race I skipped, but that was not to be. I left home at 7:30am and got home at 5 pm. But the consecutive climbs will definitely go into the training bank, and help boost fitness for upcoming races.