Epilogue - A Trip up the Alpe

Note: This is liable to be my final wrap up post on what became my non ride of the 2012 Marmotte Sportive.  I’ve very much enjoyed writing the blog and have been wonderfully surprised by the numbers of people who have taken an interest in my ramblings. 

A big thanks to you all.

My Non Ride of La Marmotte

So as I’ve already documented, injury forced me to pull out of this years event.  Of course, I was and remain disappointed at such an occurrence given the effort I’d put into the overall preparation but still, bones heal and I’ll live to ride another day. 

Above: GPS info for my ride up the Alpe

While I might not have made it to the start line, I made it to the Alpe and ground my way up its 21 bends in brilliant sunshine on the morning of the main event.  

Above: "Done it"

Above: Alpe D'Huez final turn

Above: Alpe D'Huez final turn Panorama

While pain limited me to being unable to get out of the saddle and pull on the bars, I managed to scale the climb in a little over 53mins, a time I’m rather happy with. 

Next year.  There’s always next year.

Time to Go

So then.  I’m all packed and ready to make the trip to Folkestone to catch the Euro Tunnel.  The bike is boxed up and safely nestled in the car alongside too many clothes and a bunch of other stuff I’m highly unlikely to use.

While my broken collar bone will prevent me from riding this year’s Marmotte.  I’m certain it’s healed enough for me to at least have a stab at getting up to the top of the Alpe D’Huez.  Sure, it’s going to hurt and there’s no way I’ll be getting out of the saddle at any point to pull on those bars – TaylorHamilton way back in 2003, most certainly I’m not.

A good luck and a safe day to everyone riding this weekend (July 7^th).  I’m planning to make my way up to the finish to cheer and applaud as many as I can.

More Pasta Anyone?

And no, in this instance I'm not going on about the copious amounts of carbo loading that many people riding the Marmotte are likely to be undertaking as we get to the pointy end of the taper.

I'm fresh off a flight from Italy where I decided to spend a long weekend with Mrs T and my toddler son.  I left Italy in beautiful sunshine with the thermometer hitting 38 degrees and now find myself in temperatures of around half that with much of the UK under water though flooding.

Above: An Italian View

But never mind.  In a few days Mrs T and I are planning to load up the car and make our way down to the Alpe.  While my injured collar bone is healing nicely, there's no way I'm able to ride this years event.  The best I'm hoping for is a gentle (if that's at all possible) ascent of the D'Huez just to say I did it.

I'm planning to have a go at the 21 bends on Thursday 5th July.  No doubt I'll drop a little post or two along the way.

Hope everyone traveling has a safe trip.

A few Training Stats

Since injury will force me to miss this years Marmotte, I’m planning on winding down this blog over the next few weeks or so.  As per my previous post, I’m still intending to travel to the event if anything to use the time as a little R&R with Mrs T who has been so good with me over the past few months. 

The half finished Journey

Perhaps unwisely, I made the 2012 edition of La Marmotte my primary and only real event for the year which means I’ve nothing race wise to fall back on.  While I originally stated I was looking to achieve a gold time, I was secretly hoping for something far faster and to finish towards the pointy end of the field.  Something perhaps in the 7.15 – 7.30  hours sort of a time frame. 

While a tad arrogant, given my numbers and power to weight ratio I think this sort of time would have been doable were everything to have gone well on the day. 

Of course.  I’ll never know.  Or not at least this year.  I may return to the event in 2013 although it wont be my A1 all eggs in one basket sort of a thing.  I’m certainly planning on doing a few other things and will definitely look at some of the ultra endurance distance events within the Tri or Running world.  Perhaps I’ll make a few decisions while sitting in a café at the top of the Alpe on 7^th July.

Tale of the Tape

For anyone interested, here’s a rundown of the cumulative times and distances I’ve ridden during the course of this blog:

Oct ’11 – 14hrs 26mins – 480kms

Nov ’11 – 24hrs 15mins – 830kms

Dec ’11 – 26hrs 12mins – 855kms

Jan ’12 – 27hrs 9mins – 965kms

Feb ’12 – 23hrs 12mins – 743kms

Mar ’12 – 31hrs 10mins – 985kms

Apr ’12 – 41hrs 31mins – 1378kms

May ’12 – 44hrs 16mins – 1329kms

Jun ’12 – 5hrs 12 mins – 115kms

Totals – 237hrs 23mins – 6,930kms (4,306 miles)

That's What we call a Show Stopper

“There are two types of cyclists.  Those that have crashed, and those that are going to crash”

I’ve heard this phrase quite a few times from riders with far more experience and miles in their legs than I.  For the most part, I’ve fallen into the latter category.  Until this weekend just past.

A wet road.  A wet pedestrian crossing.  A little tumble.  A broken collar bone.

Thankfully it’s a simple break so there’s no need for it to be pinned although with 3 and a bit weeks to go I’ll not be riding this year’s Marmotte.

I still intend to travel and hope at the very least to be healed enough to ride up the Alpe. 

Perhaps another year.  Perhaps another sport.

A Classic 3 x 20 min Sweet Spot Session

Note: This post draws from Training & Racing With a Power Meter - 2nd Edition by Hunter Allen & Andrew Coggan.  Brillinat book.  Seek, buy and read.

Having spent the winter and the early part of this year building upon my aerobic base, much of this part of the training cycle for La Marmotte is aimed to help build upon my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) - in short, the bigger the number... the better.

To this end I'm spending a fair bit of training time within the Sub Threshold or the "Sweet Spot" aspect of my power profile.  This equates to roughly 88 - 94% of my FTP and is essentially on the verge of the top end tempo and bottom end lactate threshold levels.

While the hours spent at this level are not going to improve my VO2 Max or Anaerobic Capacity, it should help stimulate the bodily adaptations and improvements needed to spend the best part of half a day going over four mightily large mountains come the early part of July.

The graph below taken from my WKO+ shows one of these types of sessions, a classic 3 x 20 min interval ride on the turbo with 10 mins easy spin between each set.

Above: Classic Sweet Spot Session taken from WKO+

For each interval I had planned to stay within a steady wattage range of 278 - 294 - I wasn't bothered about speed, heart rate or cadence.  So, how did the session go?

Interval 1) - Ave Watts: 284

Interval 2) - Ave Watts: 287

Interval 3) - Ave Watts: 286

Perhaps naturally I was really pleased with this workout.  Each of the intervals were well within the limits I'd set for myself and I finished each set feeling strong and fresh.

Hopefully a few more of these over the next few weeks will help me "fly" come July 7th.

Weekend Away…. Cancelled

Sadly I didn’t make it to Bournemouth this weekend for the Wiggle Sportive.  A poorly toddler coupled with a resulting sleepless Friday night meant I chose to stay close to home come the Sunday.  Naturally I was disappointed to miss the ride although I was still able to get out and stretch the legs come the Sunday afternoon.

Hopefully I’ll be able to make the Wiggle Magnificat ride this coming Sunday (June 3^rd).  While coming in at 127 miles is probably a little too long it should give me a psychological view of what it’s like to ride for 7 hours plus.  Something I’m certain to do come the main event in a few weeks time.

Perhaps I’ll see you there?