How has my d'huez time got worse?

RyanBrook

Came back from a great touring holiday around France with my girlfriend yesterday. We did the Gorges du Verdon which was spectacular, and some of the big Cols. I did Ventoux (Bedoin) for the first time. This was my first big climb of the trip. I felt really slow at the start but fast over the last third. I did it in 1 hour 56. I imagine its a good 25 minutes off a good time.

The thing that really dissapointed me was my time up alpe dhuez. I saw it as a bench mark after going up in 1hour 10 2 years ago after only a months cycling experience on a touring bike.

This time around I have many more miles in my legs including club runs and a cyclosportive and I have a Trek 1500. My time was 1 hour 15min. I was hoping to get closer to an hour. I realised early on I was off the pace and tried to think of reasons why I was slower.

no sleep in the tent because of a storm the night before
stress of losing wallet the day before
Ventoux two days ealier
stone heavier than two years previous
leaving pannier rack on
yet to find climning legs.

Every excuse in the book!! Hopefully it will motivate me to train properly this year using my HRM. Hoping to do the Etape next year but obviously I have some hard work in front. When I did it a couple of years back I went up with a mate so we could motivate each other which could have been a factor and we had done a few more climbs previous to it which could be a factor.

I decided to have another go the next morning before the croix de fer but the legs said no thanks so I just went up slowly doing it in 1 18.

celbianchi

RyanBrook wrote:

Came back from a great touring holiday around France with my girlfriend yesterday. We did the Gorges du Verdon which was spectacular, and some of the big Cols. I did Ventoux (Bedoin) for the first time. This was my first big climb of the trip. I felt really slow at the start but fast over the last third. I did it in 1 hour 56. I imagine its a good 25 minutes off a good time.

The thing that really dissapointed me was my time up alpe dhuez. I saw it as a bench mark after going up in 1hour 10 2 years ago after only a months cycling experience on a touring bike.

This time around I have many more miles in my legs including club runs and a cyclosportive and I have a Trek 1500. My time was 1 hour 15min. I was hoping to get closer to an hour. I realised early on I was off the pace and tried to think of reasons why I was slower.

no sleep in the tent because of a storm the night before
stress of losing wallet the day before
Ventoux two days ealier
stone heavier than two years previous
leaving pannier rack on
yet to find climning legs.

Every excuse in the book!! Hopefully it will motivate me to train properly this year using my HRM. Hoping to do the Etape next year but obviously I have some hard work in front. When I did it a couple of years back I went up with a mate so we could motivate each other which could have been a factor and we had done a few more climbs previous to it which could be a factor.

I decided to have another go the next morning before the croix de fer but the legs said no thanks so I just went up slowly doing it in 1 18.

Think you have a few reason's but for me that's the main one.

daniel_b

1 Stone, is 14lbs, which is around 6.5KG, which on a bike that weighs what say 8KG, is a lot more.

Depending on your weight before, lets say 12 Stone, a 1 stone increase is an 8.33% increase in weight, quite a lot.

Last time you went up in 70 minutes, this time in 75 minutes, that is a 7.14% increase in your time, despite the lighter bike.

Hey I like percentages

Dan

Dorian Gray

Yeah, I like how you tried to sneak in the extra stone in the middle of that otherwise innocuous list.

To be honest, any of those factors would or at least could have slowed you down, but the extra stone is a major factor. To only lose 5 minutes on your previous time despite that is actually pretty good going. I'm sure you're fitter than before, but when you're working against gravity it's pretty obvious why weight is a big issue.