Re creating the Hautacam in etape training

skelly

Ok, I am presently in training for this year's etape and close to where I live are two hills,one 4 kilometres long at a steady 5 percent and the other 3 kilometres at a fairly steady 7 percent. Now both the Tourmalet and the Hautacam have long stretches averaging between 8 and 9 percent. What I want to do is try to replicate that gradient in my training runs by using a higher gear ratio. So I have a simple question (though I suspect the answer may not be quite so simple).

What gears should I be using when going up these hills to recreate the sensation of cycling up an 8/ 9 percent gradient?

I presently use 52 x 25 on both ascents.

Answers on a postcard please !

skelly

Sorry. Correction. Am using 52 x 25 on 7% and 52 x 23 on 5%.

Monty Dog

Good luck to you if planning to use 52x25 on the day - you want to be practising sitting steady in the saddle and spinning a low gear, more like 39x25, particularly on the Tourmalet which is 17km from St Maria and the steepest section is after La Mongie - it'll probably take over an hour for this climb alone. Hautacam isn't as steep, but will comes as a bit of a shock as it's been downhill and flat all the way from the Tourmalet, to the bottom of the climb. For training, do 5-6 repeats on your hills - try and keep the same, steady rhythm on each ascent. It could be very warm on the day too, which can take a lot out of you.

skelly

Alas, as I suspected there's no substitute for hard graft. Back to the cycling videos.

andrewgturnbull

Hi there.

Any kind of training the increases the power output that you can sustain for about an hour or so will help you on these climbs. You don't have to specifically train on hills, although it does help...

Cheers, Andy