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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@Marcus
+1. Also will help you develop a smooth and Magnificent Stroke.
As for resistance, you can get a wind resistance unit for Kreitlers if you really need it.
@Marcus, @Nate
I discovered that my left leg is weaker than my right. I have therefor initiated my winter training: starting with 1 3km climb with my right foot unclipped. Next I will move into 2 3km climbs, and so forth, until my left leg is stronger at which point I switch and so forth until eventually I become a mutant, because I don't foresee stopping in time to be balanced.
Pedaling like that will teach you one thing very quicky: I can't pedal round for shit. Getting rollers. Must work on my stroke.
@Gianni
True that. However, tempo for me (and most of us mortals, even Cat II's) is very different than tempo for Ted King, or anyone that's finished Giro's.
When I was young, cool and "fast", Bob Roll came out to our local Tuesday night circuit race (PIR). Race officials let him get into the Cat I/II/III field with his mountain bike (he is Bob Roll after all). So he's riding up and down thru the field chatting us up, while we're going 27-28mph, Zone 4/5, on Ti road bikes. That's why I respect all those guys. Talent.
@frank
POWERCRANKS
@frank
I'm telling you dude, you have no choice but to pedal round with those things. When it starts to suck (and it will suck, trust me), you apply your will to suffer, to get better, and push through. A lot of people think they're gimmicky, and maybe they are, but I do notice a difference when I get on the plastic bike. Just sayin'..............
Good stuff Gianni, thanks for posting. Ryan's look when they are stopped with 6 miles to go is very familiar to me...
Made me laugh out loud at the very end when he says "...oh chocolate milk"
@frank
@Nate
@scaler911
Forget all that crap. Only one thing you need to know, 7 minute abs
"step into my office. You're fired."
@scaler911
@frank
Rollers. You really want to ruin a perfectly good bike with a medieval torture device?
@scaler911
Oh yes, I'm talking 33km/hr tempo. I wouldn't last at Pro tempo for three minutes.
And yes, Rollers will give you the magnificent stroke, tedious as they may be.
Question for my fellow Velominati:
Is there a Velominati approved equation that one can use to compare meters climbed to absolute distance to attempt to compare the relative difficulty of 2 rides? (For simplicity, assume the rider applies the same level of the V on both rides and the weather is constant)
Ride A: 200 on 100: 333km with 3200m of climbing
Ride B: Stage 18 2011 TDF 200 km with 5000m of climbing over Agnel, Izoard, Lauteret/Galibier
Which ride requires more V to complete (mentally and physically)?
For me I would look much more favorably on Ride B as there are incremental goals along the way in the cols. Ride B seems like a true mental test in addition to the signficant physical challenge.