YEAR TRAINING PLAN UPDATED

The original plan for next year cycling challenge was to ride the Badlands ultra-cycling event, which is very similar in terms of distance and climbing meters to the Basajaun that I end-up signing up. The two main differences are the location and the dates. Badlands is around Granada and Basajaun is around Vitoria, in the Basque Country. And the reason for signing up for one instead of the other was just bad luck or timing. For some reason, Badlands is way more popular and it was sold-out in minutes, while Basajaun still had open places. 

Another big difference are the dates. Badlands was at the end of September while Basajaun is at the end of July. Which shorten the time to get in shape and training by almost two months. Which will put a little more strain in the training ramp-up. And while I still can't go training due to the strong cold and throat infection I have for a week now, it It was a good moment to review the initial year training plan and adjust for the new dates, the type of training I will do and the number of hours I will be investing on a weekly basis. That also to make me feel better that I'm not out in the rain training or suffering in my Tacx/Spinning bike.

Every year I have an event to participate I like to create a plan with detail of what training I will do every week and which type of training every day of the week. I also plan the intensity and type of training per phases with a ramp-up towards being at top fitness just around the event dates.  I have been doing this for years now out of the The Cyclist Training Bible book from Joel Friel, which was a tip from a good cycling buddy 12 years ago. It is a great book to learn how to train effectively and focus effort, time and ways of training for best outcome. It had helped me a lot in the first years of cycling and I still use it every year to prep and review my plan.

Now the training is more or less completed and I need just to start getting the hours in. I've planned 2 "spinning" bike sessions per week, 2 fitness sessions and one long ride in the weekend. Leaving two days of  rest and recovery. That should be good enough. Later in the year I will select which events I will be participating and complete with more of them as they get confirmed or cancelled due to Covid. I have already included some of the traditional race bikes races that are around my region and will need to look for some new events for gravel / off road riding. The good news is that apparently gravel riding is really hype right now and I should have plenty of opportunities. Another thing I will be planning is a multi-day training ride (maybe two or three days) to get use to it and test myself and my bike setup prior to the race day. Maybe in the south of Holland and Belgium where the steep hills are.

Now I just need to get rid of this cold and start training! 

NEW CHALLENGE: TRANSIBERICA ULTRACYCLING CHALLENGE

Yesterday I signed myself to a new cycling challenge: the Transiberica Basajaun. An unassisted ultra-cycling multiple day event that will take me thru 760 kms of forest, desert and mountain and make me climb 15 thousand vertical meters. That is if I manage to finish it. Running a strong cold, coughing my lungs out and feeling like shit, felt like a great moment to find a new grueling challenge and re-discover motivation to start training when I'm feeling better again.

After 12 years participating in the L'Etape du Tour de France without missing an year, I had decided in 2020 that I was ready to a new challenge. Tired of the same training and 1 day event that usually involved a lot of stress, waking up early and not even riding that much in the week that I was in France. All because we were saving our legs for racing day. So, I didn't sign-up for the race and was ready to hook up with a group of colleagues to do a 12 days race bike cross thru the Pyrenees from France to Spain. 

Sadly, between sickness in the family of one of the organizers and the pandemic, the event got cancelled. Most of the guys were coming from USA and that was not possible anymore. The Etape itself got cancelled and all other events. With no race / cycling event to participate, my training start to slack more and more. And if it wasn't for the annual visit to the Alps with a group of friends to force me to go out training, my condition would have deteriorated to a very bad state. I am the type of cyclist that needs to have a goal. But if that is there, I will train at all costs in any condition.

Well, now I have a goal. A real huge challenge to cycle all those 760 kilometers without any assistance other what you can carry on your bike and what you can find or buy on the way. You are not supposed to arrange anything upfront, like hotels or other places to stay. You are not going to be helped by the organization and they will track you whereabouts all the time to make sure you follow the route and rules. You need to be able to carry your food and liquids, navigation equipment, lights and clothing and sleep in the open in some points. 

I have never done anything like this. Hell, I only once did camping in my whole life. And that was it the backyard of some people. The wildest thing that day was that those people had two basset puppies that wouldn't stop playing! This is whole new level. Of fitness, mental and physical and of planning and preparation. This whole thing will will require a lot learning. 

And that is why I decided to come back and write in this blog after 6 years of absence. I want to document the next 7 months of training and preparations leading out to July 30th and the event itself. All the good moments, frustrations, doubts and hopefully accomplishment of this adventure. And the good news is that I'm not alone. I'm doing this with broader in law, which apart from company and support during the event, will mean I have someone to compare notes during the next training months.

And that gave me a reason to buy a new bike :) some say that was the actual reason why I signed up...

TEAM TOUR DU ALS REUNION

130 kms | 4 h 25 m | avg speed 29.6 km/h | avg hr 135 bpm | 2.264 kcal

Great ride today around Ermelo with the men that participate on the Tour du AlS and climbed the Mont Ventoux in the last 3 years. Good speed, good legs and nice sprints to test the power. Rode the whole day not looking at my heart rate but only at cadence and speed, with the idea to see if by looking at it is making me save too much. It worked quite well as I pushed to my limits during the sprints and sticking to main bunch. Happy with that.

MERGELLAND ROUTE II

Second attempt today to do the Mergelland Route in Limburg. Another failure to follow the route. For one reason or another I never get this one right. This time the Ironman Limburg was happening in exactly good part of the same route we were try to follow. But overall it was a great 96kms ride with Stef and Tom (who took the above picture) and a good climbing training.

I’ve downloaded the route to my Garmin and today I have to say it worked perfect. I didn’t miss any turn and could follow the course perfectly. The only problem is that I’ve set the route in the “easy” direction (clockwise) and not on the way you get all the big climbs. In this way you get the climbs going downhill but the route is full of long false flats, which sucks energy.

We were just going thru the climbs nicely but at around 70 kms we all started feeling tired, what is unusual. Usually one or two are not feeling strong. But this time the legs were not there. Stef and Tom could still drop me on the climbs but they couldn’t do their normal push. At that point it started raining quite heavily, so we decided to stop at a little restaurant to get some coffee and a rice cake (with the vain hope to regain some energy) which are very good in Limburg.

When we finished, the rain has stopped and we continue. But just a little over 2 kilometers we were forced to stop as the road was blocked due to the bike leg of the Limburg Ironman. Tired and not being able to complete, we decided to call it a day and ride straight to the car. Good ride but clearly not my day. I need to focus on strength training…

Clearly I was going the wrong way…

Some say Stef was pushing me uphill.
Some say he was trying to hang on my jersey for dear life.

Coffee and rice cake in Mheer

LIMBURG

130 kms | 4 h 58 m | 26 kmh | avg hr 145 bpm | 2.665 kcal

Tried today to enjoy the great weather doing a ride that I haven’t complete for a couple of years: the mergelland route in the south Limburg. It is a 130 kms ride that goes thru several of the famous climbs in the region. Unfortunately because they stop maintaining the boards that indicates direction and because the Garmin is very bad with navigation, Tom and I lost the route several times and decided to follow the more reliable Amstel Gold Race boards instead. A hard day in the saddle especially climbing the Keutenberg and Kruisweg, two very steep climb with 16% inclinations.

Also hard because Tom is much stronger than me and was dropping me every time. Which meant I had to push hard at the end of the climbs to catch up. Although he was slowing down for me, I didn’t want to let him wait too long and pushing whenever the gradients went below 6%, took some energy. I need to do more of this!

QUICKY

60 kms | 2 h 00 m | 30 km/h | 1053 kcal

SHOULD BE WORKIN IN THE GARDEN

80 kms | 2 h 47 m | avg 28.8 kmh | 150 bp hr | 1.729 kcal

L’ETAPE DU TOUR RACE DAY

Start line in Megeve. 18 degrees at 7 am. 35 degrees later in the day.

Another cycling season closed by the L’Etape du Tour ride. A great long weekend in the French Alpes closed by the most important event of the year for me. And it was again a very hot day in the French summer, with temperatures around 35 degrees, steep hills and hard climbs. The result for me was mixed feeling: I bit my expected target by 16 minutes, finishing in 5 hours and 44 minutes. But finished with the sensation I could’ve done better, could have pushed harder. As in my all of my good Etapes…

DAY 2 IN FRANCE

Second day in France. We rode 49 kms and climbed the Aravis again as I didnt want to go for the second choice in team ride which was 95 kms. The weather was a little cooler than yesterday and the body more used to the altitude.  I stick with Stef with a god rhythm and we did quite well. After a little break at the top we went down to the other side for 5 kms and went back up.  On the way a team mate had a flat tire and we stop to help. Took us some time and after that it was a great decent to the village.  Another great day and now it is a little trip to pick up the numbers and rest for the sunday race.
Check photos after the link.

IN FRANCE DAY 1

 

First day in France with a quick 40 K ride as training for the Etape du Tour and we rode the Col de Aravis, which is the first climb of the race. It is a hard climb. Harder than it looks in the profile. And it was very hot, close to 35 degrees. High heart rate but expected as the body needs to get used to the altitude. Check the photos below.

LAST RIDE BEFORE FRANCE

78 kms | 2 h 39 m | 29.4 kmh avg | 137 avg bpm | 1.353 kcal

Almost 80 kms today around my house with strong winds both helping and against. It was a lonely sunny ride as preparation for the Etape race of next Sunday! Finally the time of the race is here. But the day wasn’t planned like that as we originally wanted to ride 130 kms. Check after the link why we changed plans…

Quase 80 kms volta de hoje foi ao redor da minha casa com ventos fortes ajudando e também contra. Foi uma volta ensolarada e uma preparação para a L’Etape que vai  acontecer no domingo. Finalmente a melhor corrida do ano está aqui. Mas não foi bem isso o que eu tinha planejado. Dá uma olhada depois do link porque não fiz os 130 kms que queria.

ETAPE DU TOUR TOP TUBE READY

The sticker for the top tube to follow the Etape is ready.
Blue is water station and green is a food station.

LAST LONG RIDE

154 KMS | 5 h 06 | 30.2 avg kmh | 150 avg hr | 2.853 kcal

Today was the last long bike ride before going to France for the L’Etape du Tour. It was the Jan Janssen Classic, an sportive of 150 kms around the Arnhem area. What I like about this one, which I’ve missed in the last 4 years, is the route. They make sure we explore all climbs in the region, twisting over small roads to get small and bigger climbs. It was a good result and an excellent training for the race in July.

Hoje foi a última volta longa antes de embarcar para a França para o L’Etape. Foi a volta Jan Janssen Classic, com 159 kms ao redor da região de Arnhem. O que eu gosto dessa volta, que não pude participar nos últimos 4 anos, é a rota. A organização explora a região e passa por quase todas as ladeiras, fazendo o percurso bastante difícil. O resultado foi bom e melhor ainda um excelente treino para a corrida em Julho.

SUNNY AND FAST

155 kms | 5 h 04 m | avg speed 30.7 kms/h | 144 avg hr | 2.642 kcal

Today was the 5th and last team ride from Nike before the L’Etape du Tour. A ride of 150 kms around the flats of Markermeer lake and against good wind. After a mishap with the start point, we joined the team and went immediately to a good speed, keeping around 35 kms/h. It was a great ride and I felt well most of it, pulling in the front at some places and closing some gaps a couple of times, keeping a 39 kms/h constant speed. Great result.

Hoje foi a vez da quinta e última volta do time da Nike antes da L’Etape du Tour. Foi uma volta de 150 kms ao redor do Markermeer e contra o vento. Depois de uma confusão com o ponto de encontro com o time, conseguimos nos juntar ao time e conseguimos manter uma boa velocidade por volta dos 35 kms/h. Foi uma volta muito boa e eu me senti bem na maior parte dela, inclusive indo prá frente do grupo e fechando algumas lacunas com velocidades de 39 km/h. Um resultado muito bom.

QUICK

37 kms | 1 h 15 | 29.7 avg kmh | avg hr 139 bpm