As Rich, a fellow London Dynamo who rode last year's Etape and who I saw out on a sunday ride yesterday, pointed out.

I had been fretting that 196km is an awful long way to train for, even though it's only 10 more than last year. But as Rich spotted, after the final climb it's a downhill belt to the finish, meaning that in reality you are pretty much home and hosed at about 176km. so if you've made it to the top of the Peyresourde you've only really got to avoid falling off to finish.

This has raised my spirits infinitely as it means that getting to the finish might be vaguely enjoyable. After my experiences cramping on the descent of the Lautaret to Bourg D'Oisans, knowing that even if I got there in time I would still have to climb Alpe d'Huez, the knowledge that this time the final descent is to the finish makes it a much more welcome prospect.

I'm now comfortably doing the Sunday ride and I can feel the edge starting to come back. Once the weather improves I may even take the new bike out and start working on that.

Posted by Alex on 12 February 2007, 17:02 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This time last year the most I had managed was a ride to Box Hill and back in about 4 hours and a total of about 80km for my longest ride. This year I've been out almost every Sunday since New Year on the Sunday 9am ride through the Surrey Hills with my club, London Dynamo clocking in 120km round trips each time. OK, the last 15km or so has been mostly me limping home in a primo banjaxed state but it all counts as it hurts less each time.

I assume that the limping home is down to the pace being sharpened by racers trying to find their form for the upcoming season. I had no form last year so I've got no comparison to make other than everything being considerably better. If I can get round next Sunday without cramp/blowing/exhaustion then I'll count that as progress.

February will see me trying to hook in a lap of Richmond Park on the way home to push my distance up to 130km comfortably and March to 140km for the Tour of Flanders at the start of April. Then it's a big push to get up to 170km for mid-May and the Beaume de Venise sportif (featuring Ventoux) before kicking on again to make up the 200km mark in July for the UK Etape and the main event.

Posted by Alex on 7 February 2007, 00:02 Digg this | Add to del.icio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Facebook | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)