Now that snows have closed access to the park outside the Nisqually and Carbon River entrances, my forays into the park will probably be limited to skiing the Muir snowfield and maybe doing Sweet Peak. But here I wanted to talk about the bike training and margin, topics I’ve emphasized this year.

It has astounded me how much progress I have made in increasing my Functional Threshhold - Power. At my age I figured that I could get a moderate increase with training from my starting point of 165 (watts). Indeed, as the months progressed and I availed myself of the excellent programs on Zwift, I saw steady progress into the 180s, then 190s, then 200s. In November I started an off season training program and the initial tests put my FTP at 231. I am able to pull upwards of 600 watts for 15-20 second sprints. That 165 watt initial FTP? It’s now a baseline for Zone II endurance rides of up to 3 hours.

I hoped the bike would enhance my overall fitness, especially with consistent riding throughout the year. This proved so with my one day Northern Loop Trail hike (38 miles/9800’ elev) in one day and especially my first day on the Wonderland, at 47 miles/12,500’ elev. I also did RIMROBOD (Ride the Interior of Mt. Rainier Out and Back in One Day) much faster than my first time in 2017, with a 13.5 hour day putting in 118 miles with 13,500’ elev. and finishing before dark. I know that I will probably never be able to do the Northern Loop in 12 hours, something I did more than 20 years ago as a trainer and warm up for ultras….there are limits imposed by age. But I wonder, can I still improve? Can I actually pull off a 48 hour Wonderland, or even challenge the 36 hour sufferfest I did back in 1999?