I DON'T ALWAYS POST 2X A DAY, but sometimes when you are a man AND you wear stretchy pants... 

10 of us met at the corner.
7am, Golden Lantern and Dana Harbor.
It was warmer than it has been, fog had rolled in.
Our mission was to try out a newish route, something to get us ready for HUNKR OC.  

We picked up 3 more riders in Laguna Canyon... I say "riders" to hide the fact that we're all dudes.  C'mon ladies we need more of you on the road.

The talent level of these 13 riders is exceptionally high, but our fitness levels are quite varied:  from a current pro MTB racer in his prime to an athlete coming back after an achilles tear and 18 months off the bike, with a couple of old diesels in between.  That said, the ride up the coast and up the canyon was full gas for some of us and a nice warm up for others. 

What were we warming up for?  C.V.  Canyon Velo. 

CV is a ride that has turned so nasty most of the original guys don't even do it.  Not nasty in a bad way, nasty in a good way.  Nasty fast.  Nasty hard.  Of the 2 main Saturday group rides in South OC, CV features more hills and longer climbs.  

Our plan was to make it even nastier.

When we got to Sand Canyon and Trabuco we had a 8 minutes to spare.  This was due to my Nervous Nellyness which kept the pace a tad erratic... and probably was the cause of us shedding some of our posse a little early in the ride.  Whoops.

From this point, the hills start hitting then clobbering with unrepentant velocity.  One by one, the weak are knocked off.  The final hill of the first section is La Paz.  La Paz was the featured climb of the '84 Olympics.  It's not steep, it's the speed that kills.  1 mile, 5%... all out.  Peter Stetina holds the KOM at 3:22.  You won't be close to that... too judgmental?

The good news is the original CVrs put in a still-respected rest stop at the top of La Paz, at the ball park.   This is the 2 hour mark for us, which is a perfect time to re-load the bottles and unload _____.

Now for the nastiness.

The next 50 minutes the group covers 17 miles and 1300' of elevation gain... 20.4 mph, pretty darn good.  

We go all out up the final 4 miles of climbing including The Wall a heinous, 1/4 mile at 9%.  At the top of Santiago everybody cruises down to the big oak tree to re-group...

...but we don't!

We turn right, and go up Old Mojeska.  1/2 a mile, average gradient of 9% and the steepest section is 20%.  

That's nasty!
but that's what some do
when it's HUNKR time,
and you wear stretchy pants.

3 THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN TRAINING FOR HUNKRS

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by Todd Brown

1.  First off, remember HUNKR is about your personal best over 100K.  Sure, we all want to win and we’ll have cool awards for the category winners and cash for the top finishers.   But, even the winners will be looking at their finishing times and comparing it to what they thought they could do, what they did at the last HUNKR, how they compare to their friends.

This means…

You should try and get some good group rides in.  Group rides will help you with bike handling, cooperation and riding in a pace line.  With a good group, you’ll go much faster than on your own.  It’s quite common for HUNKR riders to find themselves in great groups of guys and gals of similar ability.  The result is a lot of fun and friendship.  You can find groups on TribeFindr, Strava and other platforms… or start your own.

2.  Remember a HUNKR course is about equal in distance to most longish weekend road rides.  If you can ride your bike easily 30 miles, you’ll do great at a HUNKR.  You don’t need to do a bunch of crazy miles.

This means…

You should look at your HUNKR course and work in some similar terrain.  If it’s a flat HUNKR, work on your flat speed, if it’s a climbing HUNKR work on your climbing.  Get as specific as you can in the weeks leading up to your event.

3.  Remember to test out your food.  For the faster riders, they’ll be fine with 2 bottles.  Some of you will need to make a stop, and we’ll have aid stations for you.

This means…

If you think you’ll be needing to refill your bottle, be sure to check out our drink sponsor and try their product in advance.  We’ll also have quick snacks for you to munch on.

4. Remember to get your FUNKR team of 5 together and registered.

5. Have fun!  You’re going to do great out there.