Pacing hilly Sportives with Power

sampras38

Hi all,

For those with good experience of pacing hilly sportives with power, I'm after a little advice please. I've done many events over the years and love them, but new to training with power (last 8 months or so). I have a fitness background and fully understand the principles, have done a handful of FTP tests (tend to do 8 and 20 minute tests indoors) and try and retest myself regularly. I also feel I have a fairly decent understanding of my current training zones.

I'm an average rider, nothing special, tend to get high silvers or golds on most events. Done 5 Wales Dragons, 4 Marmotte's and a variety of UK events over the years.

I'm doing the Dragon again this year and will be riding to power for the first time. Zone-wise, would I be sensible to try and pace the majority of the ride in zone 3 (tempo), being the zone I could sustain for the majority of the event. I'm no doubt going to go into zones above my FTP but would stay below it as much as possible.

Any other tips much appreciated.

jgsi

Sounds like you are an ideal customer for
https://www.bestbikesplit.com/

It is not the way I ride however. but may be perfect for you.

DeVlaeminck

No it's a group ride and you should approach it as such. You need to latch on to fast groups and at times dig deeper to stick with them, if you are strong contribute if they are stronger sit in more. For mass start events like the Marmotte a fast start gets you up the road with better riders, a conservative one you will end up frustrated as nobody will want to ride at your pace.

sampras38

DeVlaeminck wrote:

No it's a group ride and you should approach it as such. You need to latch on to fast groups and at times dig deeper to stick with them, if you are strong contribute if they are stronger sit in more. For mass start events like the Marmotte a fast start gets you up the road with better riders, a conservative one you will end up frustrated as nobody will want to ride at your pace.

Thanks, I do tend to jump on groups as much as I can and where possible will do my share of the work, but from a zone perspective, surely I need to keep an eye on it so I don't blow? I would probably ride the first half relatively conservatively, then crank it up for the 2nd half. That tends to be how I approach most events.

DeVlaeminck

sampras38 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

No it's a group ride and you should approach it as such. You need to latch on to fast groups and at times dig deeper to stick with them, if you are strong contribute if they are stronger sit in more. For mass start events like the Marmotte a fast start gets you up the road with better riders, a conservative one you will end up frustrated as nobody will want to ride at your pace.

Thanks, I do tend to jump on groups as much as I can and where possible will do my share of the work, but from a zone perspective, surely I need to keep an eye on it so I don't blow? I would probably ride the first half relatively conservatively, then crank it up for the 2nd half. That tends to be how I approach most events.

I prefer to go out fast, within reason, get up the road with faster riders and worry about blowing up later. I've found I'll normally beat people who I'd consider my standard doing that - talking Marmotte etc before someone says sportives aren't races.

Marvinman

For me the Dragon (like many sportives) is all about pushing on both at the start and on the climbs, with recovery with fast paced riders on the rolling sections. Zones tend to go out the window on that type of course because if you stick to zones rigidly you’ll end up in a bit on no mans land between riders. Keeping the wheel even if it hurts at times saves you in the long run as once the elastic snaps on a group your either solo or waiting for the next group to pick you up.

sampras38

Marvinman wrote:

For me the Dragon (like many sportives) is all about pushing on both at the start and on the climbs, with recovery with fast paced riders on the rolling sections. Zones tend to go out the window on that type of course because if you stick to zones rigidly you’ll end up in a bit on no mans land between riders. Keeping the wheel even if it hurts at times saves you in the long run as once the elastic snaps on a group your either solo or waiting for the next group to pick you up.

Thanks

sampras38

DeVlaeminck wrote:

sampras38 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

No it's a group ride and you should approach it as such. You need to latch on to fast groups and at times dig deeper to stick with them, if you are strong contribute if they are stronger sit in more. For mass start events like the Marmotte a fast start gets you up the road with better riders, a conservative one you will end up frustrated as nobody will want to ride at your pace.

Thanks, I do tend to jump on groups as much as I can and where possible will do my share of the work, but from a zone perspective, surely I need to keep an eye on it so I don't blow? I would probably ride the first half relatively conservatively, then crank it up for the 2nd half. That tends to be how I approach most events.

I prefer to go out fast, within reason, get up the road with faster riders and worry about blowing up later. I've found I'll normally beat people who I'd consider my standard doing that - talking Marmotte etc before someone says sportives aren't races.

thanks