Since the metal pads had not arrived yet, I decided to head up the Peak again to see if my experiment was repeatable and if I could even out my front and rear braking. A series of spring storms had kept the PPH closed at Glen Cove so there was no temptation to climb higher. The 13 mile, 4500 ft climb is a great 90 minute strength builder followed by a 25 minute descent- the perfect 2 hour early season workout.
In preparation for the Leadville Tail 100 MTB, I try to get at least 100 miles, 10,000 feet or 10 hours of riding each week starting in the spring once ski season winds down. This has served me well in the past being under 8 hours over six times (PR 7:44) and overall placing of 5th, 6th, 8th, 12th, 20th in the pre-Lance years before the race turned more professional. I have skipped the LT100 many years in favor of mountain running but 20 years since my first LT100 still managed an 8:26 last year in my mid 50’s.
As I descended from Glen Cove, I focused more on balanced front and rear braking hoping to even out the thermal load of the front and rear brakes. At the picnic area I was pleased that I got within 16F as the front was 150.6F and the rear was 166.2F. My back of the envelope conservation of energy calculations seemed to work out as the sum of previous ride of 312.9F (184.3 + 128.6) and this run was 316.8F. Amazingly the gap between the 2 experiments was less than 4 degrees farenhieit. I was feeling pretty good about the repeat-ability, but with the brakes still vibrating and scaring every chipmunk in a 2 mile radius, I was looking forward to the metal pads.
Road Disc 