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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@roger
SUPER! Keep training b/c it is only 8 months away! :)
A thought re. support vehicle: I have a former student who's also a filmmaker (good student, talented filmmaker). I could see if he might be interested in filming and driving in support. We'd likely need to find some way to reimburse him, but we could get a fun documentary out of the experience as well. Just thinking out loud; if this appeals at all, I can approach him with the idea and see where that goes...
@Steampunk
Sounds SUPER! I'd kick some money in for this in a heartbeat!
Also, inspired by this upcoming ride so I took the morning off and went to the Texas Hill Country and rode 116 km's this morning with over 1,000 meters of altitude gain. Steepest grade was 13% with multiple areas of 10-12% on this beast of a side road called Bobcat Drive. Did about 1.5 hours on that road before heading back to the rolling Hill Country.
About 1/3 what the total ride next June will be. Felt AWESOME!!!
@Buck Rogers
Ha! Did 107km this morning with much the same kind of inspiration. Not sure about the altitude, but roughly the same, I would think, along quiet, winding rollers. Of course, it was a frigid 3 degrees. I spent my ride equally between wishing I'd decided to go with the booties and lobster-claws and reminding myself to Rule V.
As we get closer to this becoming a sure thing, I'll raise the prospect with my former student. He's a good guy and recently finished touring with a small indie band in order to make a documentary. I suspect he'd be into doing something on cycling. I imagine if his costs were covered, he'd jump at this if work didn't get in the way.
@Steampunk
Your ride sounds way more "V" than mine. I had an average temp of 24 C and cloudy with light to moderate wind. In other words: Perfect weather.
My VDO computer gave me all the altitude info as well. Yeah, I am non-rule compliant on that one.
@Buck Rogers
Jealous of the perfect weather, though there's spectacular riding around here in every direction (except east: Lake Ontario makes that a bit of a wet option). I didn't have any big, sustained climbing at high grades"”a couple of long, 5-7% climbs and one longer climb around 8%, but other than that, it was short, sweet ups. I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm more of a puncheur than rouleur or grimpeur. I'm okay with that.
@Steampunk
So what would be a puncheur that is also not very well suited for the small steep climbs? I think that's what I am. A mcsqueakeur, we might call that type of rider. A rider well suited for mostly flat, gentle rolling terrain devoid of steep climbs.
@Dr C
Whilst I am not too proud to admit I have fallen off rollers, don't let that put you off - the danger adds a frisson of excitement to sessions. I use rollers even on sunny days if i can only fit a ride in of under an hour. Maybe an inherent lack of imagination allows me to while away time on rollers. As for the e-motions, from what I understand, you would have to be a prize fuckwit to fall off whilst using them - the side rollers save you. But the e-motions have a very big drawback in that you can't fold them away - so you would need a lot of room.
@Marcus
Plus those things are like $800 - that is a pretty large sum to spend on inside riding.
I have rollers and a trainer (just purchased recently) and I actually like the trainer better for the most part. Though I have to admit I went the cheap route with the rollers and only spent about $150. They are loud as FUCK and it makes riding them less enjoyable for me, plus not good for using in an apartment. When I have a house with a basement I can ride them in, I'll probably use them more.
I actually purchased a good quality trainer, and it's certainly a good workout. It takes a bit to get use to the bike being "locked in" though, and you have to work at stabilizing yourself and minimize rocking the bike around.
@mcsqueak @marcus
I've always been impressed by / jealous of those who can exert themselves in an entirely stationary way, such as jogging machines or stationary bike things, and I guess the turbos fit that profile, but I am plagued with the need for moving scenery to stave off boredom - even the idea of looking at a screen for distraction would wear off quickly I fear - a spin class often presents many distractions, especially if you choose your seat carefully and sit near the back, but otherwise I need to be outside, so it's 6mm steamer wetsuits, and a cycloX in the mud for me I'm afraid - I'll use the money saved on the rollers for some top end winter gear
That said, at least the rollers seem to provide the potential for excitement by allowing you to fall off??