Oh I forgot about this one, that was ridiculous! As well as traffic was controlled most days, there were some obvious gaps!
Also forgot about a day 5 incident, going over that dam we had a car pass the large group quite aggressively around a bend. As the car was making the pass, an oncoming car appeared, both slammed on their brakes but couldn’t stop in time. The passing car swerved, narrowly avoiding us but not the oncoming car. Took off the side mirror, leaving debris everywhere and the oncoming driver in shock. The driver fled the scene, but didn’t get far. As we caught up to them in traffic, one of the riders took the phone out and recorded it, hopefully handing it over to police. Terrifying few moments!
Well done on finishing strongly! I remember you riding strongly past me on the Bonette as I was cracking and then dropping back a few minutes later. Good to hear you come back strongly after that.
Pacing (along with nutrition and hydration) is the main challenge for Haute Route. It’s really difficult to find out in training how your body will handle 7 straight days of racing. It surely is more enjoyable to move up the ranking in the last couple of days than dropping down. So you probably made the best decision to get the most out of the event.
I was quite happy with my pacing. Started quite agressively, but managed to keep it up apart from my bad day 6. I would have finished al 5 stages (TT in 26th, but time differences were very small) in 22nd or 23rd had I not had a mechanical on the last day.
Are you planning on returning to Haute Route? I am not ready to commit to it for next year, but not ruling out the Pyrenees in 2026 if it returns.
You’ll probably have found lots of information already in this thread. I wrote down my thoughts about training somewhere else, might be useful to share it here too.
I have been riding seriously (structured training, with weeks of over 6 hours over training) for three years. Started in the lead up to the HR Dolomites in 2022. Overshot it then in terms of increasing training load and reducing weight at the same time. Not took enough rest weeks (weakness of the Join cycling app as well), and way too few carbs in my diet.
This time corrected this mistakes. Keept consistenly trying to increase my hours. Started with 10-12 hour weeks at the end 2023, going to the 15 hour range from April/May. Finished off with some (near) 20 hour weeks in July and a 4 day camp of 22 hours 2 weeks before the event. Usually included 2 or sometimes 3 days of intervals (Vo2max, threshold or sweetspot/tempo) every week. Did most of this on the trainer, also doing long climbs at tempo on Zwift. Endurance rides were mostly outdoors (Netherlands is perfect for this). I made sure I added some very long rides (6+ hours, longest was 12 hours) as my body seems to get a good training boost from doing those. Didnt do a power test but looking at the intervals I could hold my FTP at sea level was about 340-350 watts. Added heat training in July (2 weeks before family holiday) and August (2 weeks after holiday and before HR).
Nutrition was more focussed on carbs. Ate lots of whole foods, fruit and veg off the bike. Rarely had alcohol in the last four months leading up to the event. Weight was 75/76kg (at 190cm) before I left which was only 1 or 2 kg under my 2022 weight. However, felt much stronger/leaner and healthier (not always hungry).
In hindsight I think the training worked well. I was in my best shape ever and hit some really good power numbers (all outdoor PR’s, my Kickr reads 20 watts higher). Did most climbs around 4 w/kg, only the Bonette on my weakest day (6) was significantly lower. Did some of the shorter climbs and the TT at 4.3 w/kg, which I was super happy with.
Talking to some of the guys in the top 10 of GC, I think my main takeway is to keep on going. These guys have a really good base from years and years of training and experience riding in the mountains. My main flaw is not taking enough rest. This is also something to try and experiment with from now on.
This here - and not just the top 10 GC guys, but overall the strong ones. The difference was that my training was 13-14hrs/week average for 3 months leading into it, while they average that year-round and ramp up in the summer. If I want to move up to the “next level” (not their level, MY next level), I’ll just need to spend more time on the bike all year, simple as that. Nothing fancy needed either, just saddle time.
I noticed not all of them were doing massive volume this year. Some were on mostly 10 to 12 hour weeks, but had done that for over 10 years. Consistency is key.
Heading home after a week off being a tourist in Nice and Amsterdam, and we did some reflecting on what we wanted to do next. Haute Route Pyrenees would let us finish the three big European ranges, but I don’t see us doing it in 2025.
Aligned to your discussion on training consistency, I feel like I’m squeezing most of the juice out of the ~10 weekly hours I have to train. Devoting more time here may lead to a better GC result, but I honestly think I’d enjoy this hobby less. I definitely don’t need to be training like this just to enjoy the non-striving Haute Route experience, so that’s our current approach for doing this in the future. My wife ended up having a much better experience than she expected because the GC pressure was taken away from her.
I’ll finally be building up a Crux gravel frameset when I get home, and we’re considering a weeklong gravel trip in South Africa led by Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio with her Rocacorba folks. My gravel technique is very very poor, but it may be a fun new challenge a bit detached from a pure fitness test.
Regardless, it was great rolling with both of you in the Alps, and hope you both have a great 2025 season however you plan to approach it!