Planet Ultra Mulholland Challenge

Planet Ultra Mulholland Challenge

"There is no doubt this is not an easy ride. But it's definitely doable with some preparation and training."

by Stuart Barrington / Pactimo Ambassador

The Mulholland Challenge is the first in a three-part King (or Queen) of the Mountain Challenge organized by Planet Ultra. When they say challenge, they mean it. The ride is posted as 106 miles and around 12,000' of gain. It actually came in at just over 107 miles and over 13,200' of gain. It zig zags across the Santa Monica Mountains with ascents and descents up many of the storied climbs and a few that are less so.

Mulholland

My goal for this race was to ride it faster than last year. While I have had a big year in terms of mileage so far my overall elevation gain is a little less than I hoped. That said I was going off a serious block of training having completed that TrainerRoad Sweet Spot Base plan. More thoughts on the plan to follow in a later post.

The strategy for the ride was to get out as early as possible. The event had a relaxed starting policy that let you start anytime between 6:30-8:00am depending on your anticipated finish time. Mecca dropped me off which was great as that ensured I wasn't hanging or driving around looking for parking. After a quick pit stop in the host hotel I was on the road by 6:45 am-ish. The morning was cloudy and cool and wold make for a cold start but expected to soon warm up, even more so on when I started climbing.

The majority of the riders were more punctual than me and as is my modus operandi I had missed the actual start. No worries, navigating around or within other riders was one less thing to worry about.

Read the rest of the story on Stuart's blog: www.quadrathon.blogspot.com »