Advice for summer trip to Alps

venster

I'm off to the Alps this summer and would like some advice on how to prepare for this. 10 days nr Bourg, so hoping to do a fair few climbs (family permitting).

I went last year with a mate but didn't prepare and trying to do the croix de fer the day after travelling down with a whisky hangover from hell didn't help and set me up very badly for 4 days of hell....

To the point, how does a 16st non-climber prepare in 4 months to enjoy, not necessarily blast up, the finest cols Europe has to offer. I've never had a structure to my riding, just go as fast as I can enjoy for as long as I can. Can do 50 miles over not-too-hilly-in about 3.10....

I've read posts saying do more hills, but as we know nothing in the SE can replicate the Alps, so how can I be at my best ( weight is being worked on, but realistically I don't expect to lose more than a stone).

I've just bought an HRM and calculated my MHR to be 190 - I did it by warming up and thrashing up a hill until I could do no more...

I'm guessing a basic training schedule is what I'm looking at, but don't know where to start...

Any advice, or pointers in the right ditrection will be greatly appreciated..

Sorry if it's a long post - tried to make it easy to read !!

bigpikle

I'd suggest 2 simple things....

1. lose as much weight as possible. Every lb being dragged up a hill/mountain makes life more difficult, and certainly when its a 60/90/120 min climb...

2. work on your threshold power as it benefits all areas of your performance that will matter. Get in 1 or 2 sessions of 2x20 per week and see the results. Do these on flatter terrain with as few stops and junctions as you can and hold a steady hard pace throughout. This will really help your ability to ride those steady climbs.

venster

That was probably what I was expecting to hear. As I've not got a power meter, can I assume 85% of MHR roughly equates to threshold power?

term1te

I was down there last summer. There are some great rides in the area which don't include three cols before breakfast. There is a very good booklet from the tourist office in Bourg that gives some suggested rides, including some flatter ones, it may even be online? You could plan around some of those rides, then hit the Alpe half way through the holiday.

The other option is just to go slower and enjoy the view. I cycled to Alpe d'Huez a couple of times from Bourg, once with my son at a very leisurely pace. There were people going up on shopping bikes, just spinning away and smiling for the cameras. So maybe invest in a granny gear and stop off at every coffee shop/bar on the way?

Agree with the other comments if you want to get to the top faster. Lose weight, and train near your lactic threshold. If there are no hills around, the nearest equivalent I could find is a hard 25 mile TT. Which, for me anyway, felt about the same amount of effort as riding the Alpe d'Huez, and took a similar time. Although I guess the mountains will feel harder the greater the mass you are pulling up with you.

venster

Thanks for the replies guys, this will be my third time down there but have always come away knowing I've not done my best. I want to try and change that this time, as I've never really thought about preparing for it. I know weight is an issue and I'm working on that.

And trust me, I can't get a bigger sprocket than I've got on my compact (29T)...

ut_och_cykla

Yeah lose weight - I've heard that one too - but your best bet is to get used to sustained 1-2 hour long pretty hard efforts - 2 x 20 is a good place to start and get a granny gear or two! It's not really the steepness that gets you - it's more the length and unrelenting nature of the effort. I'm a tubby 75kg female 50+ who's done 12 HC cols so far on a racing bike with a 30/32 gear combo that allows me to ride slowly but steadily up everything day after day. Good luck & enjoy - don't worry too much about teh time it takes just enjoy teh truly wonderful surroundings½

bigpikle

venster wrote:

That was probably what I was expecting to hear. As I've not got a power meter, can I assume 85% of MHR roughly equates to threshold power?

HR is not a great way to monitor these as it takes time to catch up to your effort levels and can stay high for a while even when your power drops a bit.

Dont over complicate it though - just find a flat'ish route with as few junctions as possible, and ride it at a steady fairly hard pace that will feel OK for 10 mins or so but the last 5 will seem really tough. It takes a bit of practice, as most people go off much too hard and limp the last 5-10 mins, but is good practice. Otherwise just do the same on a route for about an hour or so, as was suggested, and try and keep a steady non-stop challenging pace that leaves you pretty spent at the end of 40/50/60 mins or so. Hills arent much help as you go too hard to give the useful benefit and then coast down again giving no benefit at all - its those steady TT like efforts that will boost the power you have for those longer climbs

alwaystoohot

Ride everywhere one cog too big and do not give in to the pain. We all know it workd but none of us want to do it.

Oh yeah, lose weight fatty.

(I weigh 17 stone dont worry!)

phreak

I would personally shift the 2x20 to a full 60 min of tempo riding. You want to replicate the climbs as much as possible and you won't be riding for 20, having a 5m rest and then another 20, you'll be climbing for around an hour without a break, so why not just train for that? It's much, much easier if you have a turbo as you can do it without interuption then. If you want to break it up try changing your cadence throughout the ride.

This not only helps your body adapt but your mind as well. As you say, we don't have climbs like that here and it's tempting to treat it like a UK climb and go hard and hang on as long as possible, but that won't work. It's more like a long time trial where you need to pace your effort, so the more practice you have at pacing yourself for 60minutes or so the better.

Oh, and if you're in that area, I recommend doing the climb to Villard Notre Dame. It's not really on the tour books because it's too narrow for the Tour to go up it, but it's an amazing climb

http://www.steephill.tv/2006/villard-notre-dame/

GeorgeShaw

phreak wrote:

I would personally shift the 2x20 to a full 60 min of tempo riding. You want to replicate the climbs as much as possible and you won't be riding for 20, having a 5m rest and then another 20, you'll be climbing for around an hour without a break, so why not just train for that? It's much, much easier if you have a turbo as you can do it without interuption then. If you want to break it up try changing your cadence throughout the ride.

This not only helps your body adapt but your mind as well. As you say, we don't have climbs like that here and it's tempting to treat it like a UK climb and go hard and hang on as long as possible, but that won't work. It's more like a long time trial where you need to pace your effort, so the more practice you have at pacing yourself for 60minutes or so the better.

Oh, and if you're in that area, I recommend doing the climb to Villard Notre Dame. It's not really on the tour books because it's too narrow for the Tour to go up it, but it's an amazing climb

http://www.steephill.tv/2006/villard-notre-dame/

This is where an HRM is worthwhile, as the effort is long enough that the delay in heart rate rise or drift are not a factor. Find a heart rate that you can cycle at under load without slackening for an hour or more. Find out what it feels like when the gradient goes up after half an hour of this effort. You'll need to know what it feels like to go into the red for a few minutes and recover without stopping. Find out how frequently you need to get out of the saddle to change muscle groups and get some relief.

phreak

One other thing to consider is how to re-fuel under that intensity level. Obviously you're not racing so you can always stop to eat if you want to, but I've always found chewing kinda tough when riding hard so go with drink and gels, leaving the solid stuff for the flats.

Great fun though, wish I was out there and up a mountain at the moment

nunowoolmez

I'm off to the Alps this summer too, staying at a chalet with Col Conquerors which is right smack bang in the middle of the major Cols like Galibier, Telegraph, Alp d Huez, D'Iseran, Izouard & loads more. Got 6 days of solid cycling to do & i can't wait!! Got my flights booked with Esyjet from Luton to Geneva & gonna get the train from there. The chalet looks amazing. All i need to do is rent my bike box alan. Will be my first time so am leaping into the unknown a bit but i will have got in some big rides beforehand as i am doing the Fred Whitton & The Dragon which will be epic!

phreak

Another climb I can recommend is the Parquetout (sp). Again it's quite narrow so the Tour has never been up it, but it's a long, steep brute of a climb. Not as brutal as the Mortirolo but of that ilk.

http://www.climbbybike.com/profile/Col_ ... rofile.gif

venster

Thanks guys for a lot of input, I'm guessing ti was the HRM advice I was looking for. Like the look of the Villard Notre Dame climb, I will definately go looking for that one.

Nuno - don't underestimate how difficult it will be, but have fun. I cant wait to get back down there...4 months and counting...

nunowoolmez

Cheera Venster, i know it is gonna be tough & i won't get all the climbs done that i want but.my sim is to.just relax & enjoy the scenery, the cycling & the experience. No idea how i will fare but these things are there to be done. so i'll just take it steady i reckon!

GeorgeShaw

Just to add, I think that you have to be very disciplined to replicate a long climb on the flat. That means absolutely no free-wheeling, or even glass-cranking. That's beyond me (because I'm a lazy a*se). If so, then you either need to find a long hill (I'm near enough to South Wales for that) or get on the turbo.