Quebrantahuesos Training

andrew@snowrace

Hi I'm new to cycling and Sportives currently I'm targeting about 100 miles a week in the form of 2 or 3 20 milers and a 40 to 60 on the weekend. I have a place on the Quebrantahuesos and am riding down through france before the race about 600 miles alowing 10 days with 3/4 days rest before the race.
So 1) am I doing things right.
2) What advise or tips can you give

Cheers Andy www.madaboutthemountains.co.uk

bobhitch

Hi Andy,
100 miles a week is a good starting point , Idid the etape in '08 and entered having never done a sportive.

My advice would be to continue with that through the winter and if you haven't got one ,buy a turbo trainer for when the weather is crap/limited time.

Get a cycling coach if possible to do a proper test on your cycling strengths and weaknesses, the coach will give a daily training plan with your specific target in mind,this is a great motivator and the continual feed back is invaluable, to give you an idea I paid £40 per month for my training plan and would e-mail the data from each of my rides (logged on a Garmin 305 ) once a week and he would give me my next 2 weeks of structured training accordingly ,always fitting the plan into the amount of time I had available for training.

Enter some UK sportives as part of yout training, I live not too far from you and can recomend the forest of dean spring classic starting in monmouth in may and the dragon ride starting in bridgend in june-be aware these rides fill up quickly so check out their websites and be prepared to be on the ball to get your entry in.

Try and get one trip,if time and funds allow,to the alps or pyrenees for a long training weekend -nothing in the uk compares to the long climbs of the european sportives and often it is a mental as much as physical test climbing for 2+hrs non stop, if you know what to expect Ithink it makes it less of a mental challenge.

lastly enjoy it all! these events are great and once you start the bug will get you .

cheers Bob

andrew@snowrace

Thanks for that am off to spain in feb for a couple of weeks sking in Panticosa (portalet) most passess will be closed due to snow but Hoz de jace will be open and should give some climbing practice. Out again in April and May for training weekends. will have a go at the one in the forest of dean

ugo.santalucia

I think you are taking it a bit too seriously, as many people round here.

Scientific training is required to compete at high level, but your aim is to finish a sportive and possibly to enjoy it. If you put too much science in your cycling, you lose the fun of going out with your bike and instead of looking at the views you'll constantly monitor your computers.

Try and enjoy your training without being obsessed by the numbers. Comes April-May, try to plan a trip somewhere hilly (can be Wales, or the Lakes) to do a bit of practice.

100 miles a week for winter is more than enough, then maybe in spring, with longer days it will come natural to go a bit further and to do a few 100 milers.

More than all, have fun