Ride Guide- July 2021

This monthly newsletter below will contain details needed leading up to the 2021 Tour des Trees. We are grateful to you for joining us.

Donate Now

Upcoming reminders and other ride info:

The Tour des Trees will be here in just about a month’s time. Our riders are getting ready for a beautiful bike ride and a week they won’t soon forget. Forty-four riders will be braving the Colorado Rocky Mountains and they can use your support along the way. Donate to your favorite rider or your local chapter’s team today at www.tourdestrees.org. Every little bit helps!

Reminder for riders:

Make your travel arrangements! - See our Participant Resources page for details and look up the Ride Itinerary for details on where we will be and when. It is being constantly updated with new stop locations and timelines.

Virtual Ride:

Experience the comradery of the Tour des Trees from your own home with the Virtual Tour des Trees. Bike, walk, run, or do any activity and raise funds for the TREE Fund and the tree sciences.

Virtual participants that raise at least $250 will receive a TREE Fund fanny pack and participants that raise at least $500 will receive a TREE Fund sticker pack and a climbing helmet from KASK.

The virtual event is free to participate and you’ll get exclusive access to special tour videos and activities. For more information, visit www.treefund.org/virtual-ride-option.

Tour Stops:

Community outreach has always been an important part of the ride and even though there are still a few limitations regarding gathering in groups in certain areas, we are still committed to showing the public the good that the tree industry does.

We will have five main outreach sessions during this year’s ride that we will need rider volunteers to help with. Take a look at these, plan ahead, and let us know which events you’d like to help with.

Sunday: Beaver retention project in Commerce City (5-10 volunteers needed)

Sunday: Tree planting in Golden. (4-6 volunteers needed)

Tuesday: Tree planting at Colorado State University in Fort Collins (4-6 volunteers needed)

Wednesday: Prof. Pricklethorn presentation at Loveland Public Library (3-4 volunteers needed)

Thursday: Tree planting in Denver (4-6 volunteers needed)

RoadID Discount:

Safety is important at the tour and it is also important while you are preparing for the tour. With that in mind, RoadID is offering all our riders a 20% discount on any order at roadid.com. RoadIDs can be created with your name, emergency contact information, and medical information that can help any first responders help you in case of a problem. It is highly recommended that you wear one wherever and whenever you ride or workout.

This is a nice discount and they have asked that we not share it on a website or via social media, so if you would like to purchase a RoadID or any replacement products for the one you have, email Jonathan at jcain@treefund.org and he will send you the code.

Super Salad Bar Discount:

Super Salad Bar will be providing us with a few snacks for the road, but they have also been nice enough to provide us with a promo code for anyone that might be looking for a nutrition bar that can be easily eaten while you are out training. They are offering a 15% off discount on any entire order for any and all riders with free shipping using code: FULL15 at checkout from supersaladbar.com

A Note From The Tour Director:

This year, gear selection and proper pacing will be two of the, if not the, most important elements for a successful Tour. Although these two elements may, at first glance, seem fairly simple, when facing mountainous terrain 1) ride within yourself and 2) when it comes to gearing, more is better. But for those who want a bit more clarity, I offer the following.

First, gear selection. While I am a proponent of ride what you brought and am not suggesting that you have to make a significant investment in your drive train, having enough gear to tackle the big climbs on this year's Tour will make the experience much more pleasurable. In general, what will make your climbing experience more pleasant will be having a climbing gear that- at a minimum- has a 1:1 ratio (as an example, a 34 tooth small chainring and a cassette that has 34 teeth for its largest cog). Nowadays there are numerous ways to accomplish this; a compact crank (50x34 chainrings) with a mid-cage rear derailleur that can accommodate a cassette with a 34 tooth cog, or now there are even sub-compact drivetrains (48x32 chainrings) coupled with a mid or long-cage derailleur and a 34+ tooth cassette. Personally, I now ride bikes equipped with gravel drivetrains on the road (48x32 with a 11x34 cassette).

The only other thing I’ll say in regard to your bike is to make sure that it is in good working order! Have your mechanic check that:

Your tires are in good condition (I recommend 28mm+ tire width, which will allow you to run lower pressure for comfort and better handling on the long descents).
Your bike is shifting well (you’re going to be shifting a lot!) and has a cassette, cables and housing that are in good condition.
Your chain is in good condition (you're going to be putting a lot of stress on it).
Your brakes have new pads and are properly tuned (there will be a number of long and occasionally steep descents and your brakes will be critical to maintaining confidence so you can enjoy the beautiful scenery).
Again, not suggesting you make additional investments but it is preferred that your bike has disk brakes.

One last word on your bike's components that may need to be replaced and any service it may require: As you probably know there is a global supply chain disruption and it has hit the bike industry especially hard. That, coupled with the huge increase in demand for bikes caused by the pandemic, has really stressed your local bike shop. So, do yourself and your shop a favor and get your bike scheduled for service as quickly as you can to save you both a lot of undo stress. (As a side note, if there is one positive thing that came out of the pandemic, it is that there are more people than ever riding bikes).

Okay, this really is the last word about your bike, due to the high demand and disrupted supply chain and its ramifications on the availability of bike parts and accessories, where we typically can lean on the local shops to help address most anything that comes up along the ride, this year will most probably be quite different, so 1) make sure you show up with a bike ready for the challenges presented by the Tour des Trees and 2) bring any spare parts that are unique to your bike since sourcing parts on the road this year will be very difficult.

Pacing:

The next critical element is pacing, especially for the long climbs that we will tackle this year. As a reminder we have three significant climbs in this year's Rollin’ the Rockies:

On Day 1, we tackle the Golden Gate Canyon Climb. This is a 17.4 mile, 4,200 ft ascent and tops out above 9,200 ft.
On Day 2, as a warm up we first tackle Old Stage Rd (which is approximately 2 miles long, and gains some 600 ft) before intersecting Lefthand Canyon. Lefthand Canyon climbs 14 miles and gains over 3,400 ft of elevation and also tops out above 9,200 feet.
On Day 4, we tackle the Rist Canyon, this 11 mile ascent, climbs over 2,900 feet and tops out at close to 8,000 feet.

So with those three HC climbs in mind it is going to be very important that you develop a pacing strategy. Your strategy can be based on power, if you have a power meter and know your FTP, heart rate or perceived exertion. But all of these strategies will need to take into consideration the fact that there will be less oxygen available to your working muscles at the altitudes we will encounter, and those efforts are most assuredly longer than the typical duration used to establish your FTP. In a recent webinar I attended that addressed pacing for events at altitude, there was chart that indicated that at 5280 ft there is only 85% of the O2 available that there is at sea level. At 7,000 ft, that falls to 75% and at 9,000 ft it falls to less than 65%. Thus you will need to develop a pacing strategy that incorporates these challenges if you are coming from a place of considerably less elevation. You will need to reduce your pace correspondingly to maintain a similar perceived exertion. As an example, say that on your local course during a time trail effort you can maintain 200 watts, a pace of 20 mph, and a HR of 150 BPM; you will need to reduce that effort level by some 15-35% so that your high altitude sustainable effort correlates to your local effort and its perceived exertion.

Ok, that's probably too much information and it maybe it is best to fall back to the old adage, ride within yourself, take breaks as necessary, and always remember that "you're better than you think you are, and can do more than you think you can.”

Ride On!

Paul Wood

Get Donations-> Donors win gift cards from Sherrilltree!

There is a great incentive going on right now for donors to the Tour des Trees.

From now until August 5th, anyone that donates at least $75 to your campaign will be entered to win one of ten $100 gift certificates from Sherrilltree. Promote this to your friends that need equipment; it's almost like getting free money. Plus, for every additional $75 they donate, we'll add in another entry, so $150 gets them two, $225 gets them three, and so on.

If you donate to your own campaign during this time, you'll be entered to win, too.

Share your personal fundraising page or direct people to www.tourdestrees.org and have them search for your name in order to donate and possibly win.

Quick Links!

Everything you need, all in one place.

Always Linked In:

Connect!

Want to talk to other riders at this year’s ride? RSVP to our Facebook event and get the conversation going: Tour des Trees 2021: Rollin' the Rockies | Facebook

Welcome To These First Time Riders!

Korey Lofy

Nick Moschetti

Berry Hurst

Be With Us, Virtually!

Love what the TREE Fund does or know someone that would like to support what we do but can’t make it out to Colorado this year?

Be sure to sign up for the Virtual Tour des Trees and raise funds for the TREE Fund. The virtual event is free to participate in but you can still win prizes for hitting various fundraising levels. It’s a win-win! For more information, visit www.treefund.org/virtual-ride-option. Virtual riders will also be able to participate in some of the activities we'll be doing during the ride, so keep an eye out for more details.

Connect on Strava!

Getting in your bike miles? Let everyone else know how your training is going by joining our Strava Club. Reminder, if you have a Strava account, you can link it to your fundraising page so that your donors can see your progress.