What have I done? A cycling challenge that's really scary
HarryB
Posts: 197
I had some great news yesterday when I received a phone call telling me I'd been chosen to take part in the Guide Dogs for the Blind's 2007 Le Tour Cycle Challenge.
The excitement has now turned to fear and I'm worried that I've bitten off more than I can chew. I need as much help and advice as I can get and I know there are some really knowledgeable people on here who will be able to steer me in the right direction.
Over six days I'll have to cycle 16 of the most amazing climbs from both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. The route includes L’Alpe D’Huez, Col du Galibier, Col de la Colombiere and Col du Lauteret.
It's obviously not something to be treated lightly.
Some info about me. I'm 51 weight 12 stones and consider myself pretty fit for my age
I returned to cycling a couple of years ago after a 20 year absence (apart from a bit of mountain biking) and love being out on a bike.
I've been into sport all of my life. I played squash to a good standard, I've done fell running, mountain marathons and lots of half marathons and 10k races. My best time for HM as a veteran (over 40) was 1:21.
My main sport now is indoor rowing and I'm ranked in the top half dozen in the world in my age group.
As far as cycling goes, my long rides last year were 80-90 miles and my ave speed was 17-18mph over pretty hilly terrain. A couple of years ago I did the C2C route on my mountain bike in 16 hours but was totally knackered at the end.
I'm not doing any cycling at the moment due to rowing training but will be out on the bike as soon as spring arrives. I've entered the Northern Cyclone, the Rydale Rumble and the White Rose Classic so I'm hoping that by the time August comes around I'll be fit to ride this amazing challenge.
I need advice on training, gearing, technique, planning. In fact anything that may help. To be honest I'm as worried about coming down those big censored mountains as I am about going up them.
I'm scared. Tell me it will be alright.
The excitement has now turned to fear and I'm worried that I've bitten off more than I can chew. I need as much help and advice as I can get and I know there are some really knowledgeable people on here who will be able to steer me in the right direction.
Over six days I'll have to cycle 16 of the most amazing climbs from both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. The route includes L’Alpe D’Huez, Col du Galibier, Col de la Colombiere and Col du Lauteret.
It's obviously not something to be treated lightly.
Some info about me. I'm 51 weight 12 stones and consider myself pretty fit for my age
I returned to cycling a couple of years ago after a 20 year absence (apart from a bit of mountain biking) and love being out on a bike.
I've been into sport all of my life. I played squash to a good standard, I've done fell running, mountain marathons and lots of half marathons and 10k races. My best time for HM as a veteran (over 40) was 1:21.
My main sport now is indoor rowing and I'm ranked in the top half dozen in the world in my age group.
As far as cycling goes, my long rides last year were 80-90 miles and my ave speed was 17-18mph over pretty hilly terrain. A couple of years ago I did the C2C route on my mountain bike in 16 hours but was totally knackered at the end.
I'm not doing any cycling at the moment due to rowing training but will be out on the bike as soon as spring arrives. I've entered the Northern Cyclone, the Rydale Rumble and the White Rose Classic so I'm hoping that by the time August comes around I'll be fit to ride this amazing challenge.
I need advice on training, gearing, technique, planning. In fact anything that may help. To be honest I'm as worried about coming down those big censored mountains as I am about going up them.
I'm scared. Tell me it will be alright.
0
Posts
start riding NOW. A weeks worth of hard climbing can take it out of you. Especially day after day. I think though, that if you put in good decent mileage beforehand and have the right gearing(more is better) you will be able to do this. You'll be suprised as it tends to get a bit easier as the days go by(key words "a bit") as long as you find a pace you can
actually do without trashing yourself. Keep up with yourself, and no one else, and you
will be ok. Eat and drink tons. Good luck.
The things you can't train for are the ones to be a little wary of, i.e. the variable weather where it can be either boiling hot (and uncomfortable) or freezing cold (and uncomfortable) and the descents.
Have you done any riding in the mountains before?
They're pretty fit, but to top off their training they did a lot of long hill repeats in the last few weeks. That is the main difference, apparently, the length of the climbs, so you need to be able to find a sustainable speed and rhythm even when you are tired.
No. Never cycled outside of UK. I live very close to the N Yorks Moors so there's some decent climbs there.
What gearing will I need? I have a compact (50/34) with 25/13 on the rear on my bike at the moment.
Sounds like I need to consider carefully what clothing I'll wear. Anyone any thoughts?
At the end of the day your going to do a cycle that involves pretty much nothing but hills so why not fit the biggest rear cassette you can get. even if you dont need it by the 2nd or 3rd day i bet by the end of it you will be preying for one tooth more!! :shock:
FCN 4
if you use irrational measures to measure me, expect me to behave irrationally to measure up
I'd definitely advocate doing some riding in the hills but you cannot replicate 16 kms of the Galibier in the UK. The thing you need for this is the ability to ride at a high intensity for an hour or more and it's akin to riding a 25 mile time trial if you've ever done one of those?
Clothing wise it's best to be prepared so if I'm doing an event in the high mountains I'll usually take shorts, base layer, s/s jersey, l/s jersey, gilet, waterproof jacket, arm warmers, leg warmers, summer gloves, winter gloves, a cap etc. You obviously can't carry all of this at the same time but you should be able to cover most eventualities with this kit. There is nothing worse than travelling all that way and not being able to ride because you've left an item of clothing at home.
Harryb - sounds like a great challenge but I'm sure that you'll do it. I'm going to try a couple of those mountains in June - should be fun. (my triple has a lowest gear of 30x27 (I think) and I occasionally find myself trying to change to an even lower gear that isn't there! I'm planning to get a new bike and will get the lowest available gears on a triple that I can).
good luck
You have to be a member of a club affiliated to the CTT (formerly the RTTC) to enter open events. You could find a local club and ask to take part in a club event, but few do club 25's, most are just 10's in the week for training. Sorry Andy for interrupting.... :roll:
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Andy, I did a few time trials 30 years ago but don't fancy them now. Would doing a 25 mile hilly loop and trying to hold say 18mph all the way be a good equivalent?
I presume I'll also need to build up my distance so that I can comfortably cycle 100 miles at a good pace?
In terms of distance, I think you need to add in some longer rides but the human body is very adaptable so you may be surprised at how well it adapts to riding 60+ miles a day for 6 days in succession. It's always best to know you can ride the distance though so having a few long rides in your legs will help as much mentally as it will physically.
i haven't looked at the route in any detail, but we're talking here about 2 or 3 cols a day but not at race pace? you'll be fine.
if there is effectively no time limit ... e.g. you have 10 or 11 hours to ride the 100 miles of the day or whatever, then I would worry less about building power through TTs and long intervals and probably focus more on building endurance and competence on mountains. all are important obviously but given limited time there is something of a trade-off here. I would really try to get over the alpe d'huez or similar to ride a few cols during a weekend. even if you only do it once it will make a huge difference in confidence terms.
the clothing thing is important. we are all different in this regard. In July i only need normall shorts and short sleeve and fingerless gloves even in the very high moutains but suffer in the heat. but many people find at a minimum a gillet is useful on descents. a good tip is to buy a short sleeve jersey with a full length zipper in a light colour. nice and cool for long hot climbs.
get the lightest comfiest cycling shoes you can afford is another good piece of advice.
I would ride a good TT on the edge of blowing up as to go a bit too slow means a poor time, to go a bit too fast also means a poor time whereas going over the edge in a sportive-type ride could well mean big trouble on the next climb or next day.
Also the long climbs feel, to me anyway, very different from perched over your TT bars although I don't doubt that fitness in TTs (maybe especially longer ones) is relevant to long hard sportives.
If I was to do a similar continental hilly sportive then I would do my best to fit in 1/2 dozen or so long hilly rides ridden at a good pace in addition to any other training or racing - this year I only managed to ride 100 miles on 1 occasion and other rides or races didn't top 80 miles.
I reckon by August I'll be really fit. I've always been quite disciplined when it comes to training and my sessions on the rowing machine will help as it uses most of the same muscles
Both are hard but creeping up a 10% climb for an hour inevitably had a very different feel, at least mentally, when compared to a 60 min 25TT. Then again, when I ride a 25TT I want to finish as far up the field as possible whereas a long sportive I don't treat as a race more a (partly-) enjoyable ride !
Doing both circa 1 hour flat-out efforts as well as 100 mile rides is likely to be a useful and relevent part of the training.