Montrose
Mission to Ride
Tips & Information

by Fred Matheny

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I've been a cycling writer for 27 years and a long-time Montrose resident who has ridden more than 200,000 miles on local roads.

I'm pleased that you want to participate in the Montrose Mission to Ride. This scenic ride in western Colorado supports the Montrose Medical Mission, a joint effort by Montrose medical professionals to deliver medical care to those in need.

ROUTES

The Mission to Ride has several routes ranging from an 30-mile jaunt to Olathe to a tough 100-mile “century” ride with several challenging climbs.

The routes follow state and county roads, most of them with little traffic. However, be forewarned that many rural roads in Montrose County are rough with potholes and chip seal in abundance. There are also several short dirt sections on the route. These are generally smoothly packed with magnesium chloride but may be rough, dusty and graveled on the day of the ride. As local riders say, “It’s all part of the adventure package!” I recommend 700x25C tires, preferably with a Kevlar belt under the tread for puncture protection.

The views of the snow-covered San Juan Mountains to the south and Grand Mesa to the north are some of the most outstanding in the state. The century ride traverses the rim of the Black Canyon National Park with spectacular views into the 2,500-foot-deep abyss, just to the right of your front wheel!

CLOTHING

The Mission to Ride is in late spring so the weather may be unpredictable. May in Montrose usually brings 75-degree temperatures and balmy breezes. It can also dish up cold rain, snow flurries and strong southwest winds. Cold, inclement weather is unusual but wind isn’t.

So be prepared with suitable gear and clothing. I suggest coming to Montrose for the ride with shoe covers, leg and arm warmers, long-finger gloves, a light hat for under your helmet and a suitable jacket. It will probably be warm and sunny and you won’t need most of these items, but it’s important to be ready for anything.

GEARING

It’s difficult to make meaningful gearing recommendations because too many factors are involved. Riders need different high and low gears because they differ in strength, fitness, preferred cadence and climbing style, among other things.

Double chainrings with a 39-tooth inner ring coupled with a cassette of 12-25 or 27 teeth will probably be sufficient for the short (up to a mile) climbs to the mesa tops west of town.

Some strong riders can handle the 6-mile climb of Black Canyon with a low gear of 39x25 teeth but other equally strong, fit and experienced cyclists who like to climb at a higher cadence might want a 39x27-tooth low gear. Everyone else should have a triple crankset with 30x27 low gear.

EQUIPMENT

Be sure to carry tools and spares tubes. Be ready to fix flat tires or minor mechanical problems. Mechanical help will be available along the route but may take some time to reach you. If you can take care of minor problems yourself, you’ll be back on the bike sooner.

Mission to Ride will have frequent aid stations. But carry two bottles of your favorite drink and some food in case you miss a rest stop or go off-route.

TRAINING

You don’t need to train specifically for the shorter routes in Mission to Ride. Merely riding for fun and fitness will be sufficient. Just be sure that you’ve done at least one ride about as long as the route you’ll tackle in Montrose.

Of course, endurance is important if you’re doing the 100-mile ride. But most of us have limited time to train, so shorter, harder efforts are more practical. That's good, because intense training is the most effective way to improve fitness.

I recommend beginning to train more seriously about 2 months before the event. One long ride per week, gradually increasing the distance, will get you ready for the challenge. If the weather is bad, substitute a crosstraining activity such as running, hiking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.

Gradually increase the length of these rides during the 8 weeks. A good general rule is to increase mileage about 10% a week. So if you rode 40 miles on Sunday, next weekend don’t go over about 45 miles. At the end of your 8-week ‘build” period you should be able to ride 75 miles comfortably. That should give you enough base to finish Mission to Ride in style.

Twice a week, you might want to do repeats of harder efforts lasting from 2 to 10 minutes. Don't overdo it. There’s no reason for gut-wrenching intervals! This is supposed to be fun. Simply raise your normal pace a bit for varying amounts of time.

If you have a heart monitor, reach a heart rate of about 85% of your max near the end of each work interval. If not, use perceived exertion. The effort should feel “hard” but not distressingly so. Do these on hills as well as flat roads. Mix the number of repeats, the length and the terrain. Keep it varied so it's fun.

Resistance Training

Setting aside 15-20 minutes twice each week to develop strength may not improve your riding directly, but it will condition muscles and connective tissue so you’re more comfortable on the bike for long periods.

Be sure you know how to do each exercise you choose. Get help from a certified strength and conditioning expert if you need to. Don't get injured!

Emphasize higher reps and lower weights. You're trying to improve your cycling, not become a power lifter. Three sets of 15-25 reps should work for most exercises.

To save time, do only those exercises that directly affect your efficiency and comfort on the bike.

I suggest:

• One upper-body pulling exercise: pull-ups, seated rows, upright rows, dumbbell rows.

• One upper-body pushing exercise: push-ups, bench presses, dips. Triceps extensions (with dumbbells or on a pulley machine) can help you avoid the sore arm muscles associated with long rides.

• A leg exercise: squats, leg presses, step-ups, lunges. As you begin to ride more extensively in early May reduce leg work to once per week.

• Exercises for your core: crunches and back extensions are the most popular choices.

Group Rides

Meeting and riding with great people is a big reason to do Mission to Ride. But if you have ridden alone all winter, your pack-riding skills may be rusty in May. Try to go out with your local cycling club or other compatible group at least a few times. Even riding with just one person will help keep you comfortable around other wheels.

WIND

I can practically guarantee a breeze—maybe a gale—in the Uncompahgre Valley in May.

And then there’s Windy Corner. That’s the locals’ name for the intersection of Highway 50 and the road to the Black Canyon 8 miles east of town. This stretch of road is infamous for early morning headwinds. Old timers swear that small heifers have been picked up and rolled downhill into town by the force of the down-canyon wind. So be prepared for challenge by the wind as soon as you leave Montrose.

Headwinds are generally more difficult than climbing. You know where the top of a hill is and how to apportion out your energy, but headwinds can go on all day. For this reason, a gale in your face is one of the most physically and psychologically difficult challenges in cycling.

Here’s how to survive—and maybe even have fun—if the zephyrs are blowing:

Get low. Position on the bike is crucial to handling headwinds. Your goal is a position that provides as much power output as possible coupled with a blend of comfort and aerodynamics.

This doesn’t mean getting as low as you can. You may be riding into the wind for hours, so find a good compromise between reasonable comfort and getting low. Holding the drops isn’t always the best choice if you’re solo and will be taking the brunt of the wind for long periods of time.

If you’re in a paceline, get low by holding the drops when you’re at the front and relax with a higher position when you’re sheltered in the paceline.

Gear down. It’s tempting to fight the wind with sheer power and a big gear. That’s exactly the wrong approach. Treat the wind like a steep climb. Get in the small chainring, choosing a gear that lets you keep your cadence up around 90 rpm. Sure, you may be going 10 or 12 mph on a flat road. But you won’t go faster in a bigger gear, you’ll just pedal slower. And plodding along at 60 rpm may mean sore knees.

Set goals. If you have 30 miles to go and it’s all into a raging headwind, the task may seem impossible. It’s discouraging to figure out when you’ll arrive at the finish by comparing miles to go with current speed. Instead, pick an intermediate goal—lunch, the next rest stop, maybe even that lone tree way off in the distance. Achieve several smaller goals and before you know it, you’ll be at the end of the ride.

Find friends. Even if you prefer solo riding, a headwind is one time you’ll want to find a group. You will work as much as 30% less tucked behind another rider compared to bearing the brunt of the wind at the front.

Enjoy the tailwinds! Just as a long climb is rewarded by a great descent, headwinds have a pay-back, too. Eventually the road will turn and the wind that has bedeviled you becomes your friend. Take advantage of a tailwind’s push by relaxing and pedaling easily. Recover while you can because the headwind’s return is only a corner away!

CLIMBING

The 6-mile climb to Black Canyon is the biggest ascending challenge in Mission to Ride. After that rolling (and windy) 8 miles east on Highway 50, the climb begins when you turn off to the north to the Canyon entrance. The initial 1.5 miles to Bostwick Park averages about 8% and has sections over 12%. This is equivalent to the tough European climbs done by the pros. After a short false flat, the road rises steadily to the Park entrance. Then the Rim Road rises and falls all the way out to Warner Point at a slightly less demanding grade.

The other climbs in Mission to Ride are short grinds up to the mesa tops west and north of town. They’re all less than a mile long and average a moderate 6%.

Here are some tips to help you have fun when the road tilts uphill: 

Use the right gear. Climbing is a lot more than simply choosing the right cogs and chainrings. You have to know when to use that toothy collection of 18 to 30 gear choices. Technique is all-important.

On short, steep climbs, it’s tempting to leave it in the big ring, take advantage of your momentum and power over the top. Don’t do it—repeated redline efforts will hurt your knees and load your muscles with lactate. That’s fine once or twice—but don’t forget you’re in this for the long haul. Learn to love the small ring.

On longer climbs, gear down, keep your cadence around 90 rpm and spin. There’s no rush and pushing hard may lead to knee problems or premature fatigue.

Pace yourself. It’s a long ride, and climbing has a cumulative effect. The snap you drain from your legs on the road to Black Canyon won’t come back when you hit the mesa climbs later in the ride.

Don’t go anaerobic. Pros like to say they “only have so many matches to burn.” By this they mean that they can go hard a set number of times in a race—making or following attacks, riding hard on hills, or sprinting. Once they’ve used up their fund of hard efforts, they’re done. So keep your pace below the redline. Use a heart monitor or a finely tuned understanding of perceived exertion to keep track of your matches.

Alternate sitting and standing. You probably have a preferred climbing style, and most riders climb seated. But standing occasionally works different muscles and gives your butt a break from saddle pressure.

Move on the saddle. When you’re climbing seated, ride for 20 or 30 strokes in your normal position in the middle of the saddle, then slide to the rear for another 30 strokes followed by sliding to the nose. Alternating positions on the saddle works muscles in different ways and increases long-haul comfort.

FOOD AND FLUIDS

Big miles mean a greater risk of dehydration. It’s hard to keep up with fluid losses when you’re riding 104 miles even if you drink frequently. And you can expect extremely low humidity in late May—probably around 15%—so you’ll dehydrate faster. Remember that a loss of only 2% of your weight as fluid can mean performance decreases of 2% or greater.

Here’s how to keep from looking like a stick of beef jerky by the end of the ride:

Pre-hydrate. Drink a glass of water when you get up on the morning of the ride. Down some juice and another glass of water with breakfast. Some riders avoid coffee because it has a mild diuretic effect but recent studies show that the diuretic qualities of coffee are minimal so feel free to enjoy your Joe.

Guzzle on the ride. Leave the start and every rest stop with two full bottles. Drink a bit every 15 minutes and then reload at the next aid station. Some riders might want to carry a back-mounted hydration system for more fluid capacity if they plan to skip some of the aid stations.

Clear and copious. How do you know if you’re hydrated? Your urine will be clear and copious. You’ll have to go every couple of hours. A general rule: If you don’t get up at least twice in the night before the ride to urinate, you’re not drinking enough.

Here’s a good eating pattern for the Mission to Ride:

Pre-ride breakfast. Mix carbs for muscle fuel with fat and protein for staying power. At a buffet you might choose pancakes, French toast or oatmeal for carbs and eggs, yogurt or meat for fat and protein. Other riders might prefer cereal, yogurt, bagels and fruit.

In-ride stops. Fuel up at each stop on cookies, fruit bars, energy bars and bananas. Eat about 200 calories per hour and put a bar in your jersey pocket if you get the munchies on the road.

PACING

I’ve ridden a number of double centuries (200 miles), Team Race Across America from California to Georgia and a transcontinental tour that averaged 140 miles per day for 24 consecutive days.

But the 100-mile version of the Mission to Ride is a tough event! It stacks up to the more challenging centuries in America.

Don’t panic! Any cyclist in moderate condition, with a good training program in his or her legs, can finish this ride and have fun along the way. The trick (along with nutrition and hydration described above) is proper pacing.

The unique feature of Mission to Ride is the climb to Black Canyon. It’s tough, it comes early in the ride and you may have to fight a headwind before the climb even begins.

Although the ride up Black Canyon and out to Warner Point is a small percentage of total ride miles, it’s a big chunk of the total effort required to finish.

The key to success is to ride well within yourself until you’re safely back in the valley. Then you can think about putting the hammer down.

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