Training with the Pros, it sounds like fun but it can’t be. Pros are genetic freaks; they put more kilometers on their bikes than any of us civilians do on our cars each year, they ride around whole countries at an average speed greater than 40km/hour and they can dish out such Rule V style day-after-day-after-day. We all dream about it but we don’t have it.
In an earlier life I came close to landing my dream job in Monaco with the IAEA. Serious people counseled me not to take the job, they said it was a bad career move. How could I explain to them I didn’t give a shiet if it was a bad career move, the chance to live, and more importantly to be a cyclist near San Remo and La Madone was all I cared about? Yet I knew if I even saw Tom Boonen or one of the many Aussies who call Monaco their home out on a training ride, I would only be seeing their lycra-clad asses disappearing up the road. Could I at least catch up to Stuart O’Grady to chat him up for a minute before my inability to talk and breathe would force me to lie and say I was turning right HERE? Maybe I could drink beers with the Aussies, I could keep that professional pace, actually no, I would get dropped there too.
Oh that job fell through and my dreams of commuting into work on Merlin on the Cote d’Azure disappeared like those watery mirages on a hot highway, but I digress. I have some good and funny direct video evidence why training with the Pros would be a cruel lesson in our mortal failings. One such Pro is Ted King, an American racer living the dream; he is based in Lucca, riding for Liquigas, riding in support of Ivan Basso and Peter Sagan. He is tough, he has finished every Giro d’Italia he has started. He broke his collarbone this summer racing in Philadelphia when his front wheel dropped into an inexcusably lame drain grate (thank you very much, oh third-world infrastructure that defines the USA).
To bring his training back up to speed he did the 200 on 100 with fellow Pro Tim Johnson and amateur racer Ryan Kelly. The 200 on 100 means 200 miles on Route 100, riding North to South from the top to the bottom of the state of Vermont, the Green Mountain State. Unless you are Marcus, 333 km seems like an impossibly long ride to do at once, I would be in broom wagon long before the end of such madness.
And by madness I refer to the 338 km at 34.1 km/hr average speed with 3,197 meters of climbing thrown in for good measure.
Video credit to Chandler Delinks
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@Buck Rogers
Rob is in, you may admire his magnificent stroke for 200km. I moved a safe 6 times zones away so I will miss it, whew...
@Gianni
Total bummer that you will not be there Gianni.
As for Rob, sounds like "That Dude can Roll". He might be leading a "fast group" if we split into sub-groups!
@Buck Rogers, @Rob, @Gianni
I refuse to believe that any climb is harder than Haleakala. But that's only because I don't want to know the truth if that's the case.
I've also looked up @Rob's best time up the climb (on a custom-built Bella with, I believe, 24-inch wheels and a plastic BMX saddle in the name of weight savings) and even his time from the 70's or 80's (whenever it was) would have gotten him top five in the last 8 editions of the race.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
@Buck Rogers
Nobody's asking, but I'm going to try to make it, for what it's worth. It's a long way and will be tough, though. I'll also work on Gianni. I have some degree of confidence I can shame him into showing up. I've not seen @Rob turn a pedal in anger, though I did have the pleasure of meeting him in NYC a year ago and he was a Magnificent Dude.
I have spent many long hours, however, riding with Gianni and I can tell you first hand - there is no Magnificent Stroke I've ever seen that betters Gianni's. I'm including any Pro I've seen on TV in that statement.
@frank
Ohhhhh, now we're talking!!!
Man, EPIC is starting to sound like way too lame a superlative for this ride!
@Marcus
Can you really ride for 2+ hours and kill yourself on rollers? I've never used them but have done soooo many killer hours on my trainers, up to rides over 3 hours, and I do not want to drop a bunch more money on something that I will not get a lot out of. Just curious.
@Buck Rogers
To your first question, YES
At the very least, if you use your trainer a lot, you can use rollers for some of your indoor sessions. You will definitely get your moneys worth. Dont fuck about with cheap rollers - get kreitlers (which are still not that expensive compared to most cycling gear).
Once you have mastered your roller technique (it aint hard), I guarantee you will not look back!
And I reckon it is easier to ride on rollers for longer than your trainer simply because the balancing adds another element to the ride.
If you really want to go hardcore, get the e-motion rollers (more expensive and you cant fold em) and you can do whatever you like on them.
I am definitely in for this. Just a short drive/bus ride for me, too.
@Gianni
Jaysus, 42-28, I've just gone tunnel vision and puked - and 34-26 doesn't sound any better!
You are a Hardman and should definitely attend Buck's 200/100 next June with your shit climber's magnificent stroke
@Marcus
I fancy a set of those e-motion rollers - I point blank refuse to train inside, but at least if it is snowing, you can go outside and not get windburned, and still enjoy sliding all over the place
That said, they only look safe when used in a narrow hallway or between a set of heavily padded parallel bars - sounds a hoot otherwise - stick it in the big C and go