I participated in a unique event this weekend, and I think Xert gives some interesting insights into how it went.
The event is the Dirty Dozen, where the goal is to complete 13 of the steepest hills around Pittsburgh without putting your foot down. These hills all have maximum grades above 20%, a few even go above 30%, and most of them are quite long.
There are some nice YouTube videos about the event, e.g.: Mitch Boyer and Rick Sebak.
Here’s the link for my effort in Xert:
Xert - Activity | Moderate Mixed Breakaway Specialist Ride: Dirty Dozen. This was my first time doing the Dirty Dozen. My goal was to complete it, and this felt like a long shot.
A few observations:
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I really tried hard to pace myself (and avoid any breakthroughs!). I accidentally got close a few times, like on the 2nd hill (around 53:26) when the cobblestones were jutting out at sharp angles. Or around 4:05:25 on what is generally considered the hardest hill.
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For the first 9 hills (up to around 05:13:15), the three points where my effort was closest to MPA really were the three most painful parts of the race. That third one was Canton Ave., the most famous hill of the Dirty Dozen, which is short but paved with cobblestones and very steep, peaking at a 37% grade. This was an all-out sprint for ~35 seconds, and I think it wore me out for the rest of the event.
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After the sprint on Canton, every single time I drew down MPA (each of the last 4 hills) was miserable. These were some of the hardest hills to complete, but Xert makes it clear that this was because of fatigue, not because I was putting out much power.
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I’ve never been sure what athlete type to configure in Xert to prepare for the Dirty Dozen. Zooming in to look at individual hills, I see that the Focus ranges from GC Specialist to Road Sprinter, depending on the length of the hill and on how well I paced myself. And I suppose that with increased fitness, the focus duration of the individual hills will decrease.
Anyway, I don’t know whether anyone else finds this interesting, too, but I thought I’d share. And I’d love to hear any other thoughts about Xert’s insights or what else I should do for next time. And of course everyone is welcome to join next time, too.