2009 Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge news

Jeff Jones

Start training, next year's Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge looks like being even tougher than this year's: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/d ... rder-17965

Anonymous

Jeff Jones wrote:

Start training, next year's Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge looks like being even tougher than this year's: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/d ... rder-17965

Holy Moly....thats just F8ckin crazy!!!....Bwlch Y Groes from Dinas Mawddwy thrown in with all those other brutes....In my books that climb along with Hardknott Pass is the toughest climb in all the UK....its a beast...it will be nice to see the whole route and the layout...and having Penbarras at the end....Mmmmm

Only the unwitting/stupid and sh*thot need apply I reckon...I fall into the 2nd Category

ColinJ

I seem to remember Chris Boardman once saying that if you rode the perfect time trial you would die as you crossed the finish line, having spent the very last dregs of your strength to get there.

I think Dave has been talking to Chris...

Brian B

This years route was obviously very, very difficult if you were doing the full 140 miles - even the first 60 miles was really hard. The thought of hitting the Bwylch the opposite way at 100 miles and then the Pen Baras climb to finish after the Stingers makes it obviously even harder for next year.

Unfortunatley I will HAVE to go and do next year as well. It will be a very hard day in the saddle and not for the faint hearted.

richa

Any date for next year? Any chance it will be earlier than the last week in June?

I would consider it but this year it was too close too Etape/Marmotte which were first week of July?

Doobz

Next years will be two weeks before the Marmotte

richa

That's bad news

I've got no excuse now...

The Other McHoy

Jeff Jones wrote:

Start training, next year's Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge looks like being even tougher than this year's: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/d ... rder-17965

Hi Jeff - as you won this year's event, how about sharing your training schedule with us? You couldn't have posted the fastest time on that route without an incredibly high level of fitness.

How about also having a proper section on Bike Radar for sportives - dates, ride profile, website address for entry etc. It seems strange that such a good website as this isn't providing this service. It can't be that difficult to pull this info. together and giving us readers the chance to keep our diaries up to date without having to go to a variety of other sites for the same reason.

It is a bit of a pain to come to this site to read articles on fitness, training, equipment etc. and then have to go elsewhere to find info on events that are attracting hundreds of riders all over the country.

Jeff Jones

The Other McHoy wrote:

Hi Jeff - as you won this year's event, how about sharing your training schedule with us? You couldn't have posted the fastest time on that route without an incredibly high level of fitness.

How about also having a proper section on Bike Radar for sportives - dates, ride profile, website address for entry etc. It seems strange that such a good website as this isn't providing this service. It can't be that difficult to pull this info. together and giving us readers the chance to keep our diaries up to date without having to go to a variety of other sites for the same reason.

It is a bit of a pain to come to this site to read articles on fitness, training, equipment etc. and then have to go elsewhere to find info on events that are attracting hundreds of riders all over the country.

Hmm, well I'd use the term 'won' advisedly because it wasn't a race, it was a sportive! In fact, one of the reasons I did it was as training for time trials. That and because it was a genuine challenge in its own right with some amazing scenery to boot.

My training schedule this year was fairly simple, although I suspect most riders here wouldn't have the same amount of time to invest as I did:

Jan-Feb

Weekdays: ~1.5 hrs before work as hard as I feel like, including one tempo ride/week
Weekends: 4-5hrs each day in the hills

Mar-May

1-2 time trials/week, including riding to start and home; steady or tempo ride on other days.

June

"Sportive month": Paris-Roubaix, Franja, Circuit of the Cotswolds, Dave Lloyd Mega Challenge on successive Sundays. One tempo ride or a club TT during the week.

July: back to winter training mode, with the odd race

Aug-mid-Oct: as per Mar-May

If I was only able to train three days/week, I'd do one hilly long ride, one tempo ride and one hilly interval session.

A more integrated rider section on BR is a good idea and will happen, although at the moment I couldn't put a date on it.

The Other McHoy

Thanks Jeff - when do you fit in the rest of your life? Sounds like you are training between 15-20 hours a week, there won't be too many people doing much more than that.

I look forward to Bike Radar having a dedicated sportive section, with cycling plus and cycling weekly both covering these events on a regular basis it is clear there are plenty people interested in reading about them.

I appreciate other sites provide sportif info but I like the idea of a portal where I can accss news, reviews, forums and ride info. all from the same site. Congratulations on the site so far, it is a big improvement on what else is out there.

Cheers

Jeff Jones

The Other McHoy wrote:

Thanks Jeff - when do you fit in the rest of your life? Sounds like you are training between 15-20 hours a week, there won't be too many people doing much more than that.

I look forward to Bike Radar having a dedicated sportive section, with cycling plus and cycling weekly both covering these events on a regular basis it is clear there are plenty people interested in reading about them.

I appreciate other sites provide sportif info but I like the idea of a portal where I can accss news, reviews, forums and ride info. all from the same site. Congratulations on the site so far, it is a big improvement on what else is out there.

Thanks for the comments. No argument that sportives are popular - we've got a few good sportive-related ideas for the site that we couldn't implement at launch, but should be able to now it's up and running.

15-20 hrs/week: yep, that's normal for me, but probably unrealistic for most (not having to commute far helps). If you can believe it, I used to train more (and was fitter) and work nearly double the hours I do now. It was quite a relief to cut back to a standard working week. So it's easy for me to find the time to do other things, which strangely enough often seem involve beer.