10 in 10

I had planned on altering my birthday challenge goals as the year progressed. I'm may downgrade a few of my goals but, first, I'm going to upgrade one. Riding the 6 major local canyons is sort of the Holy Grail of endurance road riding around here. While out riding one of the lesser climbs the other day I got the hairbrained scheme of upping the ante for Holy Grail status. Similar to what my friend's Russ and Aaron did in the Bay Area, when they transformed the Berkeley Death Ride into our Seven Samurai (scroll down) and, finally, Aaron's unrepeated 10 in 10; I've come up with a Wasatch-style 10 in 10 that consists of riding up 10 canyons around here in less than 10 hours (cumulative climbing time only).

Here it is:

1. Little Cottonwood: the continuously steepest long local climb. Often the most unpleasant due to traffic and exposure. However, it's beautiful on a peaceful day. About 3,500' in 8.5 miles.

2. Big Cottonwood: the longest climb by far, and hard. Adding Guardsman at the end makes it REALLY hard but that's not how the "6 Canyons" is ridden, so we'll call it good at Brighton. 14 miles and a little over 3,800'.

3. Neff's Canyon: Obviously, the above climbs aren't happening in two hours of climbing time. Hopefully, time can be made up on the others. This short and steep leg breaker isn't on the main circuit, but with many ramps well over 10% in its two or so miles it feels brutal every time I climb it.

4. Mill Creek: a super aesthetic climb that's not too bad until the end. 2,600 vertical in 8.5 miles.

5. Parley's: No one does this one because it's horrible, but one has to approach Lamb's Canyon somehow. 2,300' in a little over 10 miles.

6. Lamb's Canyon: Nice secluded offshoot of Parley's. Rarely done for obvious reasons. About 4 miles and 1,300 vertical.

7. East Canyon: Climb up to Big Mountain via I-80. Might feel somewhat brutal by this stage. I think this profile is from the reservoir, which will make this one probably 2,500' in around 10 miles.

8. Pinecrest: Around three miles of nastiness into a box canyon. I have no stats but it feels brutal most of the way.

9. Emigration. The easiest climb on the circuit. 1,300' in 7.8 miles.

10. City Creek. Just getting here is going to feel hard by this time. Then there's around 1,400' in 5.5 miles to consider.

Goals for 2009

Part of this year's birthday challenge is a series of 12 goals for the upcoming year. Some of these goals are very hard, while others should be easy if my training is going as planned. I'm going to make a few alterations in these as well. Essentially, everything is centered around an experimental training program I want to test. I'd like to try and train concurrently for high level (for me) riding, running, and climbing without having to dedicate all of my free time to it. This will mean a lot of overlapping training and should be interesting because the energy systems and body parts that need to be trained are different for each sport. I will, of course, sacrifice something off of the top level that I could achieve training for one sport. But I still think I can achieve a fairly high level of performance, and be close enough to my potential to race competitively.

A few of these goals are a priority. The top two are to qualify for Duathlon World Championships, which requires a top finish at one of a few qualifying races. The other is to free climb a grade V in a day. This is a build-up year for the following, when I'd like to have a go at climbing the Eiger and do a good world championship race.

Last weekend I was inspired by our trip to see Romney's sister in Vegas. Not by the town, which is horrible, but by the new guidebook to Red Rocks. It's the first book to cover many of the classic long canyon routes, which until now had been shrouded in mystery and lore. The author, Jerry Handren, did a great job of digging up old info and covering the history of the area. He, essentially, got climbers from different ethical camps to all chip in their route info and the result is a beautiful comprehensive guide that gives me something to do whenever I'm forced to pass through this veritable purgatory.

At the top of this list are two routes that go up the largest and most imposing walls in Red Rocks. The first is Brian McCray's Dogma, a grade VI 2,000' line up Mt Wilson. The second is the Rainbow Wall, which is being called by many people the best wall route in the world. My spring agenda is also going to include linking two grade IVs on Notch Peak in a day (the largest limestone wall in the US). It's an ambitious schedule. I'd better get training.