Biking Analytics: Doing a 65 Mile Ride in the Foothills

I was nervous to do a metric century ride. It takes a lot of endurance and training.

I have recently taken up road cycling as a past time. I bought my Cannondale CAAD Optimo 9 road bike in March of 2021.

My Accessorized Bike

I have done 3 “long-ish” rides in the past year: for me a long bike ride is greater than 30 miles:

1. 50 miles in Palm Springs in Feb 2022
2. 40 miles in Azusa in Jan 2022
3. 30 miles in Upland in Nov 2021

All three of these rides were done in a one-year span. Let’s see if we can find any interesting patterns in this data.

Biking Inspirations:

I watched a fabulous documentary called Icarcus which follows professional cyclist Bryan Fogel as he simultaneously works as an undercover journalist who uncovers doping in the Russian Olympic team. It was super motivational to me to watch Mr. Fogel complete intense biking training sessions

Instagram Founder Kevin Systrom also talks about his passion for cycling analytics in his interview on the Lex Fridman podcast.

Training

I needed a good coach. I started cycling with my coach Larry C — one of the greatest cyclists in Claremont. I met Larry a day after he biked a century (100 miles). He brought me into his biking group and we started riding together.

Larry and I Taking a Break in a Park Halfway Through a 30 mile Ride

I would train with a chest strap and a cycling computer which had speed and cadence sensors that generated all the data I need. Below, I have a heart rate graph. As the graph shows, in the beginning of the ride, my HR did not hit the max level and it would quickly lower after a tough section.

Heart Rate Graph

Towards the end of the ride, I hit my max heart rate max which 181 bpm. Larry was working me hard on only our third ride together. He had me sprinting up hills while calling me slow.

My heart rate zone graph on the same ride:

As the above graph shows, I was working hard. I spent most of my time on this ride in Zone 4 and Zone 5 –– the max heart rate zones. And this ride was 2+ hours long!

Bike Computer Setup:

I use a Garmin Edge 830 sensor to capture cycling data. The Garmin device gives me stats like distance and elevation gain while also providing me speed and cadence metrics.

Garmin Edge 830 Sensor — Showing Ascent and Wattage

Then I import that data into Strava.

Strava has information about speed (measured in RPM and mph) and effort (represented by TRaining IMPulse, Stress Score, and Watts). All of this gives tremendous detail on my conditioning.

My median cadence is 64 rpm which indicates a casual pace. My speed while climbing slows down to 7.1 miles/hr!

The Main Event

The weather the day of the ride was nice. I met my cycling group well ahead of the start time and we talked strategy.

Tour De Foothils 65 Mile

Strava shows my pace through coloring the route map at different places on the ride. Red denotes a slower speed while green indicates a faster speed.

I was able to complete the 65+ mile ride in just under 5 and a half hours. It was an epic ride full of the most beautiful scenery of the San Gabriel Valley and San Gabriel Mountains. Special shout to the Tour de Foothills staff for putting on this event.

Finish Line of TDF:

After training for 3 stressful weeks, I completed the 65 mile ride with energy to spare. Next, I want to do a century ride in February 2023 at the Tour de Palm Springs.

I will continue to capture cycling analytics and study them as I work to improve my speed and endurance.