Archive for the ‘sportives’ Category
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
The first sportive of 2010 is in the bag. Eagerly anticipated by 6 of us – me, Jonny, Millsy, Simmo, Duncan and Paul – as a key test of early-season form, the Puncheur lived up to its reputation from last year: a fast, mostly flat route around the South Downs with excellent food and organisation.
It was freezing cold on the start line at 7.45am on Sunday, and it didn’t get much warmer, despite some bright sunshine as the day wore on. It was a ragged start; I got a lot of cold air into my lungs straight away, my heart rate pounding up in the 170s – it felt like my body was under a lot of stress. This feeling of stress never quite left me the whole 70 miles of the course. We were all taking short pulls at the front to begin with but everything felt a bit giddy. Then we hit ice, several big patches. Duncan went down, later joined by Jonny.
The first half of the ride, I just felt strain, so I tucked in behind Jonny and a strong-looking rider in a Cannondale top. After the feed-stop, I felt stronger, and made up for my poor contributions to the pace early on by taking a long stint into the wind. I could feel it coming back, the feeling of lightness, of floating on the effort.
At about the 3-hour mark I started to tie up. We’d hit a modest hill at around 2hrs 30, which had separated myself, Theobald and Cannondale from the others. I knew if I lost those two, I was most likely on my own to the finish, so I did everything I could to cling on, but closing the gaps became too much. Swearing at the wind, I roped myself in to the bottom of Ditchling Beacon, then climbed it without further incident. Final time: 4hrs 06 – 7 mins faster than last year, this time without going wrong.
I’ve done more riding (in pure hours on the bike) than I had this time last year, but notably less high-quality training such as intervals. This is potentially the reason for my lack of any kind of explosive pace. I remember feeling really full of beans last year; this time around, I felt easy on the hills, with reasonable stamina, but not that much power. My leg injury could have played a part. I’m half a stone lighter than last year (10st 10 vs 11st 6) – so that’s maybe a factor. I guess since my goal this season is the Maratona in July, building a base with plenty of hills, without hitting the intervals too early, will hopefully pay off in the end.
A short footnote for Millsy – he had a shocker. Training to within an inch of his life, he had to do a long run and a ride the day before, then flatted at the start of the sportive. His grim-faced expression in the photos tell the full story.
Tags: brighton, duncan, ice, jonny, millsy, paul, puncheur, simmo, sportive
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Friday, February 5th, 2010
My mate Matt Simmonds, aka Simmo, has just emailed me in search of advice about riding his first sportive (we’re doing the Puncheur together on March 7th). Here are his questions:
- Can you draft?
- Can you use aero bars?
- How much fluid am I likely need for 4-5 hours on the bike? Will 2 waterbottles be enough?
- Can I carry my bike up Ditchling Beacon? I cycled up it once in the granny ring of my mountain bike and that was tough enough.
- I think I need some new tyres, any advice? Mainly for triathlons and some sportives….
Last time we rode together – October time I think – Simmo actually beat me on 3 laps around Richmond Park, so clearly he’s acting the novice here to lull me into a false sense of security before kicking my ass on race day. However, I’ll humour him.
I don’t claim to have written the book on sportives but I have ridden a dozen or so. Here are my responses:
- Yes, you can draft. Furthermore, you have to draft to ride a good sportive. Tactics and timing definitely play a part, it’s important to time your effort whilst preserving your strength for the full distance – not to mention doing your share of the work unless you want to earn dirty looks.
- On some sportives aero bars are banned, and rightly so – they are a liability when riding in a bunch. Many’s the time you’re riding in a tight pack and someone drops a bottle or slows suddenly, if you can’t react you’ll wipe out bad.
- 2 waterbottles is enough, since you can refill at all feed stations. Make sure you keep drinking though, and try to avoid the mistake I made at last year’s Burgess Hill Classic, of refilling on water instead of energy drink.
- Ditchling Beacon is a hard climb after 65 miles – but really, on the scale of things, it’s not that hard. Do some hill training now.
- Tyres? Buy these, they’re awesome.
Any further qu’s comment below!
Tags: aero bars, ditching beacon, drafting, puncheur, simmo, sportive, tactics, timing, training
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Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Here’s a list of 2010 sportives as I stumble upon them. Please comment any I’ve missed.
Here’s the list.
No Etape du Dales – yet.
Tags: calendar, events, sportive
Posted in sportives, training | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Photograph copyright PatitucciPhoto.
Now this looks like a promising option for 2010: a well-run continental sportive that will be quick without being grotesquely hard – and which can be extended into a sweet summer Euro-trip. And the Maratona website actually looks pretty good, unlike some big cycling-event organisations I could mention.
It’s on.
Read the London Phoenix ride report from this year.
(The above image is displayed courtesy of PatitucciPhoto, who specialise in outdoor and adventure sports photography. You can view a full gallery of their images from this year’s Maratona on Dolomite Sport.)
Tags: dolomites, italy, londonphoenix, sportive
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Monday, July 6th, 2009
Marmotte route.
It is finished. The results are in. Now never mention the M word again!
(more…)
Tags: alpedhuez, alps, croixdefer, france, galibier, glandon, joe, marmotte, montagnac, sportive
Posted in news, sportives | 5 Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
On Saturday I’ll be catching a train down to Plymouth in advance of the Dartmoor Classic, a 100-mile sportive. It’s looking pretty hilly:
The Dartmoor Classic route and elevation chart.
If you’re hitting this from Google you may also be interested in this Mapometer map.
I’ll be riding with Jamie and Duncan. Based on my outing with them a fortnight ago, they’re both on pretty useful form. Jamie, in particular, is capable of pushing his body to the limits and beyond, as evidenced by his serious accident in the 2007 London Marathon, where he collapsed from heat exhaustion a few hundred yards before the finish. He still blames a spectator’s food bag, a la Armstrong on the 2003 Tour.
So, even though I’m not supposed to be hammering it 6 days before the Marmotte, I am expecting a decent ride. It should give my legs the shock they need to regain Reigate-like form.
Tags: dartmoor, duncan, jamie, sportive
Posted in bike, sportives | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 8th, 2009
The Reigate sportive was potentially my finest hour (4hrs 38 to be exact) on a bike this year. I had a really, really good day and experienced genuine Legs, Feeling No Pressure moments during the second, hilly leg of the ride. (more…)
Tags: fitness, millsy, reigate, sportive, ventoux
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Monday, June 1st, 2009
A view from the valley
On Saturday Jonny and I tamed the Giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux. And actually, it wasn’t that bad.
I admit I’d been dreading it – I’d lost a bit of focus since the Fred Whitton – but on the day we had a tough, fast ride, amid some fantastic scenery, and in the end we placed respectably in the top 200 (out of 483 finishers). My finishing time was 5hrs 20 – a ‘gold’ medal, according to the organisers, although this was meaningless because the time barrier was set so low (7hrs 21 for gold) that all but a handful of the finishers achieved this. (NOTE: the organisers have since amended the gold time to 6hrs 15 for the Master category).
Every 2 years the Ventoux ‘cyclo’ switches its route between the two options for climbing the mountain: a longer 170km route that climbs via Bedoin and Chateau Reynard; and a shorter 144km route that goes up the steeper side via Malaucene. We did the latter. Here’s the Ventoux profile, which I climbed in 1hr 35.
Mont Ventoux profile (via Malaucene)
Yes, it was long, but compared to the Whitton’s climbs it was very gentle, and there were plenty of sections where you could back off the top sprocket. I’m sure I rode it quicker in an effort to stay on Jonny’s back wheel, but I didn’t over-cook it, unlike the guy I passed vomiting at about 6km from the summit.
The descent was eye-wateringly fast. There was no time to even spot Tom Simpson’s memorial. Once we made it down to forest level we formed a small 5-man grupetto for some fast-paced through-and-off. Before long we were joined by others, and became a larger group that pelted along the smooth, hot roads to the second feed station.
Following the second feed the big group fragmented, and after a quick toilet break we latched onto the back of the tail end. There were two modest climbs to go: on the first one I felt strong and rode off the front; on the second I started to fade, and ended up losing Jonny, who finished in a small bunch a couple of minutes before me.
All in all a fine ride that I would definitely repeat. We lucked out with the weather too: earlier in the week I heard the head-winds had been brutal, while the day after we had rain, a sure recipe for freezing temperatures on the mountain.
Tags: france, jonny, provence, sportive, ventoux
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Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Carne, John and me at the start of the ride. There was no post-ride shot (which is telling).
My Fred Whitton was a ride of 2 halves.
The first half was an idyllic trip through possibly the UK’s finest mountain wilderness. After an early, chilly start the weather gradually warmed up, bringing a stunning morning of clear skies and glassy lakes (scenic pics here). Starting out at 6.30 with Carne and his dad John, we cruised for an hour or so before I joined a quicker group going up Kirkstone Pass. My legs felt springy and strong on the climbs. I powered through Patterdale and Glenridding, then caught the wheel of a fast lad in a red Pearl Izumi gilet who pulled me along the A66 towards Keswick.
Honister Pass was hard – I remembered riding this on a mountain bike at some point with UYCC – but I felt reasonably comfortable and before long was hurtling down the valley to the Buttermere feed station, 52 miles in the bag. At this point, had I only stopped for 5 minutes, I might have carried on and not seen Carne / John until the finish. However they were only about 10 minutes behind and in the event we restarted the ride together, up another toughie, Newlands Pass.
Barely a flat section in sight.
The following climb, Whinlatter Pass, was the highlight of the day. Again I’d ridden away with a quicker set of riders, and I remember cresting Whinlatter, at about 70 miles, to the cheers of 100+ spectators lining the road. Was it me or did someone shout ‘Go Lance!’?
The second half of the ride was an increasingly gritty story. The unremitting climbing had blasted my legs, and a sort of acid-heavy pain was setting in. I knew the worst was to come, but Carne had caught up with me and together we made the second feed stop.
The three of us took a good 15-20 mins at this stage. I actually sat down to stretch out my glutes and lower back, which felt like stiff cardboard. One rider arrived with cuts all over his legs and face, clearly the victim of a high-speed spill. Together we stuffed our faces then embarked on the final punishing leg.
It was 15 miles of undulating road along the valley to Hardknott. My sugar levels were fine and I was pretty sure my legs could handle it, but the key memory I will take with me from the Whitton ‘09 was the sight of the road from Boot winding up into the clouds at the head of the pass, a long train of riders like ants crawling upwards at an agonisingly slow pace.
The crowds were out in force on the slopes of the climb, especially on the steepest sections, where the gradient reached 33%. While most dismounted to walk up, I watched as some guy toppled back off his bike into the bonnet of a parked car, still clipped into his cleats. Riders were shouting at themselves to eke out a few more revolutions, some Aussie guy was yelling at me to ‘bury it into the corner’; generally the spectators seemed to be loving the pain display. I can’t recall exactly what happened but I did end up kind of slipping and coming off right at the top.
Over the top the weather suddenly closed in. There was snow and hail on the road and the descent from Hardknott was freezing and frankly terrifying. The rain made sweat run into my eyes, which didn’t help matters. Wrynose Pass was still to come, with more sections of 25% to contend with.
By the time I crossed the line I was shivering. 8hrs and 7 minutes. Could I have ridden it faster? Possibly. Could I have spent less time admiring the views and eating, and more time caning it? Definitely… but I had a good ride.
Height Gain
Quick note on the Whitton’s total height gain, which was 3,800m (more detail here) compared to the 4,400m of La Marmotte’s 4 big cols (height gain info and more here).
Fred Whitton food intake:
- 3 ham rolls
- 3 slices of malt loaf
- 4 flapjacks
- 2 bananas
- 5 bottles of drink
- fruit pastilles at intervals
Tags: carne
Posted in bike, news, sportives | 3 Comments »
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
The route: all 112 miles of it.
I read the detailed route description for the FWC last night, and experienced a flutter of dread. It’s going to be a monster of a ride, and one which I have to some extent overlooked with my France sportives always on the horizon.
That said, I feel great. I’m sleeping and eating well this week, and my legs are popping after back-to-back rides on the weekend followed by a couple of days’ rest. AND I’ve hit my target sportive weight of 11 stone.
I’m definitely going to need to take enough food though – the first feed station isn’t until 52 miles in.
Tags: fredwhitton, weight
Posted in routes, sportives | 1 Comment »
