To my Friends and Supporters,
Finally, after much needed rest and time with my family in Provence, here is my update on the Etape du Tour:
FIRST: I firmly believe that I would not have completed this event without my coaching and the training program I did. THANK YOU Rich Wharton (www.onlinebikecoach.com)!!
Also, the equipment modifications (compact crank, 12/27 cassette, and the PowerTap) were vital. I never had a single equipment problem (other that a seat post that started to creak for some odd reason).
Etape Stats: Distance: 170k (106 miles), Climbing 11,927 feet, Cals burned: 2915 kJ, Avg Speed 13.1, Avg Power 136.3 watts, weight lost on ride: 4 pounds, time on bike 08:07:27
My official Etape time was 9:44:33, but that included about 1/2 hour wait at the start, and 1/2 hour wait for water at Chalet Reynard (see story below), plus water, food and "nature" stops.
I placed 2099 in my age category, out of 2717 people in that age group. I placed 5900 overall out of 9500 entries. About 2100 people did not finish. So I didn't exactly tear it up, but I was at least somewhere in the middle. FYI--there were about 235 women who finished the event (I'm not sure how many started). The winner finished in 5:11:31, and the last place to finish was 11:05:38. Anyone after that was disqualified and picked up by the broom wagon (or else had abandoned).
So the story....
The day before per my coach's plan I had a 45 minute ride with a 3 minute interval followed by a recovery drink. I had a good dinner and was in bed by about 10pm. I was up at 4am for a light breakfast, and on the road to the start in Montelimar by 4:30am with a tour group called "On Your Bike" out of Ireland. I had made arrangements to share a ride on their bus, and had done a group ride with them earlier in the week. They are a nice bunch of guys and run a very nice cycling tour operation. Check them out (www.onyourbike.ie). We parked and were at the start at about 6:40am.
The start was at 7am, but being 7000 people back it took about 30 minutes to get out the starting line.
I had a gel at the start, and carried 2 bottles of Hammer Perpetuem. I was carrying about 7 gels, 2 more packs of Perpetuem and enough Heed for 3 bottles. Also had a couple of fig newton bars--one was crushed beyond eating so I tossed it.
The first few climbs were nothing much, but a warm up. They averaged 4-6 kilometers at about 4-5% grade. That said, the "peleton" was thick and very nervous. There were several crashes and one rider went down just in front of me on a descent. I swerved around him and narrowly missed going into the dirt shoulder. I saw at least one person who was in pretty bad shape and numerous ambulance vehicles came by over the course of the event. There were also many flats, broken chains, and god knows what other kinds of equipment failures along the road.
I got into a few moderately paced groups, but even that was tricky because some dope was always trying to squeeze into the paceline. Along the route I stopped to refill water twice before Bedoin, mixing the Perpetuem and then Heed. I was careful to drink a bottle and a gel every hour, plus a bit of fruit at the stops (a banana ad an apricot).
The 4th climb from Sault to the Col de Notre Damn des Abeilles is longer and steeper at about 9 kilometers and averaging 7-9%. I could have easily gone up these first climbs faster, but I tried to learn from Solvang and I monitored my wattage and HR to always stay out of the red. I don't think my HR ever went over 175, which for me is a moderate tempo rate.
The descent from the Col de N.D. is blazing fast. Straight down with broad sweeping curves. With so many people though it was a bit nervous going all out, plus I was kind of trying to recover, which is tough to do at 40-50 mph on a bike.
At Mormoiron there is another slight climb into and out of town (5-6%) for a couple of K before reaching Bedoin. I saw someone stretching out his leg and thought that seemed like a good idea so I unclipped and bent my leg back and up. Bad idea. My leg immediately started to cramp from this new unwelcome position. I stopped immediately and it subsided.
In Bedoin I had arranged for my family to meet me with cold water, ice and some snacks. I refilled my bottle with those, added the last of my Heed to one bottle and kept the other with plain water (I didn't want to squirt Heed on my head). I ate some more fruit, took a few photos with the family and headed out. In retrospect I should have grabbed an extra water and maybe some more food. The gels were getting harder to stomach.
The climb up Ventoux looked like a death march. Half the people were walking their bikes up, and a lot still riding were weaving around, barely keeping upright. It was an effort not to hit someone. The sun was blazing straight down and shade was hard to find and only at the sides of the road, which of course is where all the walkers were.
I tried to duck into the shade when I could, though I don't really know if it had any actual physical effect--but psychologically it felt good!
I was feeling the hints of some cramps again but nothing terrible. At some point in the forest about half way up I stood on the pedals through a steep bit and my right calf cramped up pretty good. I had to stop for a second and massage it, which helped. My left foot was also very sore right on the ball of the foot. I've had that before, and I had bought some new insoles which I thought were helping. It seems to crop up on that foot after about 60 or 70 miles. I may need to look at the cleat position on that shoe.
Back on the bike I just kept a steady pace--if I stood on the pedals I made sure not to stomp--I just maintained steady power--and the leg cramps never came back, but I did feel a bit nauseous and the thought of throwing up entered my mind (oh yes, there were people throwing up--happily I never did).
After what seemed like an eternity I reached the rest point at Chalet Reynard. And they were out of water. Riders had to line up at the gift shop where there was one little drinking fountain. It took about 1/2 hour to get water, but I was out and didn't want to face the final 6k without any.
Back on the bike and did the last 6k by counting down every K to the finish. The first bit is actually not bad at 7%, then the last 1K is at 11-12%, but at least you know at that point that the finish line is in sight!
At the Ventoux summit I had 1/2 a Coke (I was craving it for some reason, but could only drink half), and some bad cookies from a vendor. I took some video and photos, called my wife, and recovered. I also vowed that I would never climb that damn mountain again! Okay--I feel better now and am planning to do it again on Friday with Rich, but I certainly meant it at the time :)
Finally, there was a long 25K descent to Malaucene, followed by an easy slight downhill ride back to my car about 10k away in Vaison la Romaine.
I rolled into home with my car at 8pm (I had to take a detour route home because of the traffic on all the roads around Ventoux. A good dinner and I was in bed by 10pm.
Last, but not least, together we raised over $1,500 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation-- a special thanks to all who donated.
That's it! It was an exhausting but epic day. Thanks for letting me share the story. Video and photos will be posted soon!
Ken
Finally, after much needed rest and time with my family in Provence, here is my update on the Etape du Tour:
FIRST: I firmly believe that I would not have completed this event without my coaching and the training program I did. THANK YOU Rich Wharton (www.onlinebikecoach.com)!!
Also, the equipment modifications (compact crank, 12/27 cassette, and the PowerTap) were vital. I never had a single equipment problem (other that a seat post that started to creak for some odd reason).
Etape Stats: Distance: 170k (106 miles), Climbing 11,927 feet, Cals burned: 2915 kJ, Avg Speed 13.1, Avg Power 136.3 watts, weight lost on ride: 4 pounds, time on bike 08:07:27
My official Etape time was 9:44:33, but that included about 1/2 hour wait at the start, and 1/2 hour wait for water at Chalet Reynard (see story below), plus water, food and "nature" stops.
I placed 2099 in my age category, out of 2717 people in that age group. I placed 5900 overall out of 9500 entries. About 2100 people did not finish. So I didn't exactly tear it up, but I was at least somewhere in the middle. FYI--there were about 235 women who finished the event (I'm not sure how many started). The winner finished in 5:11:31, and the last place to finish was 11:05:38. Anyone after that was disqualified and picked up by the broom wagon (or else had abandoned).
So the story....
The day before per my coach's plan I had a 45 minute ride with a 3 minute interval followed by a recovery drink. I had a good dinner and was in bed by about 10pm. I was up at 4am for a light breakfast, and on the road to the start in Montelimar by 4:30am with a tour group called "On Your Bike" out of Ireland. I had made arrangements to share a ride on their bus, and had done a group ride with them earlier in the week. They are a nice bunch of guys and run a very nice cycling tour operation. Check them out (www.onyourbike.ie). We parked and were at the start at about 6:40am.
The start was at 7am, but being 7000 people back it took about 30 minutes to get out the starting line.
I had a gel at the start, and carried 2 bottles of Hammer Perpetuem. I was carrying about 7 gels, 2 more packs of Perpetuem and enough Heed for 3 bottles. Also had a couple of fig newton bars--one was crushed beyond eating so I tossed it.
The first few climbs were nothing much, but a warm up. They averaged 4-6 kilometers at about 4-5% grade. That said, the "peleton" was thick and very nervous. There were several crashes and one rider went down just in front of me on a descent. I swerved around him and narrowly missed going into the dirt shoulder. I saw at least one person who was in pretty bad shape and numerous ambulance vehicles came by over the course of the event. There were also many flats, broken chains, and god knows what other kinds of equipment failures along the road.
I got into a few moderately paced groups, but even that was tricky because some dope was always trying to squeeze into the paceline. Along the route I stopped to refill water twice before Bedoin, mixing the Perpetuem and then Heed. I was careful to drink a bottle and a gel every hour, plus a bit of fruit at the stops (a banana ad an apricot).
The 4th climb from Sault to the Col de Notre Damn des Abeilles is longer and steeper at about 9 kilometers and averaging 7-9%. I could have easily gone up these first climbs faster, but I tried to learn from Solvang and I monitored my wattage and HR to always stay out of the red. I don't think my HR ever went over 175, which for me is a moderate tempo rate.
The descent from the Col de N.D. is blazing fast. Straight down with broad sweeping curves. With so many people though it was a bit nervous going all out, plus I was kind of trying to recover, which is tough to do at 40-50 mph on a bike.
At Mormoiron there is another slight climb into and out of town (5-6%) for a couple of K before reaching Bedoin. I saw someone stretching out his leg and thought that seemed like a good idea so I unclipped and bent my leg back and up. Bad idea. My leg immediately started to cramp from this new unwelcome position. I stopped immediately and it subsided.
In Bedoin I had arranged for my family to meet me with cold water, ice and some snacks. I refilled my bottle with those, added the last of my Heed to one bottle and kept the other with plain water (I didn't want to squirt Heed on my head). I ate some more fruit, took a few photos with the family and headed out. In retrospect I should have grabbed an extra water and maybe some more food. The gels were getting harder to stomach.
The climb up Ventoux looked like a death march. Half the people were walking their bikes up, and a lot still riding were weaving around, barely keeping upright. It was an effort not to hit someone. The sun was blazing straight down and shade was hard to find and only at the sides of the road, which of course is where all the walkers were.
I tried to duck into the shade when I could, though I don't really know if it had any actual physical effect--but psychologically it felt good!
I was feeling the hints of some cramps again but nothing terrible. At some point in the forest about half way up I stood on the pedals through a steep bit and my right calf cramped up pretty good. I had to stop for a second and massage it, which helped. My left foot was also very sore right on the ball of the foot. I've had that before, and I had bought some new insoles which I thought were helping. It seems to crop up on that foot after about 60 or 70 miles. I may need to look at the cleat position on that shoe.
Back on the bike I just kept a steady pace--if I stood on the pedals I made sure not to stomp--I just maintained steady power--and the leg cramps never came back, but I did feel a bit nauseous and the thought of throwing up entered my mind (oh yes, there were people throwing up--happily I never did).
After what seemed like an eternity I reached the rest point at Chalet Reynard. And they were out of water. Riders had to line up at the gift shop where there was one little drinking fountain. It took about 1/2 hour to get water, but I was out and didn't want to face the final 6k without any.
Back on the bike and did the last 6k by counting down every K to the finish. The first bit is actually not bad at 7%, then the last 1K is at 11-12%, but at least you know at that point that the finish line is in sight!
At the Ventoux summit I had 1/2 a Coke (I was craving it for some reason, but could only drink half), and some bad cookies from a vendor. I took some video and photos, called my wife, and recovered. I also vowed that I would never climb that damn mountain again! Okay--I feel better now and am planning to do it again on Friday with Rich, but I certainly meant it at the time :)
Finally, there was a long 25K descent to Malaucene, followed by an easy slight downhill ride back to my car about 10k away in Vaison la Romaine.
I rolled into home with my car at 8pm (I had to take a detour route home because of the traffic on all the roads around Ventoux. A good dinner and I was in bed by 10pm.
Last, but not least, together we raised over $1,500 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation-- a special thanks to all who donated.
That's it! It was an exhausting but epic day. Thanks for letting me share the story. Video and photos will be posted soon!
Ken
Well done Ken. A great ride. I'm looking forward to the video. Simon.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your account on FredCast. I can't find the photos or video, though. Has real life gotten in the way of putting them up?
ReplyDeleteGreat job. I hope to do Ventoux some day myself.