Haute Route participants thread

Same.

I believe you can get more than enough fitness from 7 to 8 hours a week to finish an HR event comfortably.
You will however need to ride hard sessions back-to-back, to prepare for the stress of such multi day event, also, it makes sense to plan sweetspot session on the weekend, with 90 minutes or so of base riding (Z2 or Z3) afterwards. Getting used to many hours in the saddle.

Preparing for the hot weather, the climbs and the altitude is very difficult, especially during COVID.
Best advice I can give is to have a hard session every now and then with sub optimal cooling, and if you have a smart trainer, with a simulated climb. The inertia of pushing the pedal on a climb is just very different from that on the flat.

In preparation, when getting closer to the event, I would however recommend to find a real outdoor climb, as a proof of concept.
I have many Alpe Du Zwift KOM Jerseys and felt reasonably prepared, but riding up the real Alpe d’Huez was a very different experience. Air got really thin near the top and my cadence was 10 rpm lower outdoors. I averaged some 20W fewer on AdH than on AdZ.

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Lose weight in the base phase but ensure you fuel your harder work outs. You should be looking for overall calorie deficit over a week for example, not every day.

I live in Switzerland and am competitive in Grand Fondos and the best way to train for longer climbs if you don’t have any mountains near you are the long sweetspot workouts on the trainer starting with something like 3x12’ at 85% FTP working up to as much as you can do such as 3x30 or more. I do this in winter when I can’t get out, they work for sure.

For heat adaptation, again the trainer is great for that


You can mention people using “@username”, for example @ Jonathan, @ Nate_Pearson, @ ambermalika (without the space of course, I didn’t want to actually tag them).

However, they have talked about stage races a couple of times in the podcast, so I don’t think there is the need to mention them. Nevertheless, here you could ask them a question specific to the Haute Route demands.

Podcasts:

Also, here on the forum you will find a lot of stage racing tips, just use the search function :smiley:

Ok, thanks. That’s now and is what I’ve been doing, so I’ll carry on trying to drop a bit of weight/body fat through the rest of base.

Ok, think I’m getting it.

Back to back hard TR days and some SS + zone 2/3 efforts at the weekend ( I like this idea as can probably get out with a few slower friends for a social ride to a café when allowed).

My turbo is out in a barn and it’s pretty cool at the moment. I’m not even using the fan. I do have a patio heater, so could cook myself, but might wait for warmer weather and just leave the fan off, your right, this will make a huge difference to the intensity.

I used to train on a wattbike in the gym with no fan, it was hot (I ended up bringing a small fan with me and plugging it in).

The first time I did an FTP test on the trainer in a cool barn, it was up by 10%.

I don’t have a smart trainer with a simulated climb, but I could put the front wheel on a breeze block, would that work?

Would you suggest a low cadence too?

I spin very happily at 100rpm on an indoor trainer, but guess it’s near 70rpm on a climb outdoors and have been thinking this is a bit of a mismatch.

I don‘t think it is really that important to have the handlebar move up and down like with the Kickr Climb. The biggest difference in cycling at FTP on the flat and cycling at FTP on a steep climb for me is the inertia in the pedal stroke. On the flat, you „tip the pedal over the edge“ and it kind of does the rest by it self. A „micro freewheeling“ if you will. That doesn’t exist on a climb. Every inch of rotation is relentless, nothing is for free there. It is just a different feel to it, and in my opinion takes some getting used to. A smart trainer can sim that sensation quite well.

You might want to train to keep the cadence up when climbing (also climbing on a smart trainer). 100 might be very high, but a 70 cadence will break you. Especially when climbing an Iseran, Bonette, Ventoux, Stelvio, Angliru type climb.

You’re right, 70 is to low.

Chad has been recommending 85rpm as a climbing cadence in the last couple of session, which seems to work quite well for me.

I need to get a power meter or at least a cadence sensor to get some real world stats.

I still keep holding on for my IQ2 pedals to arrive, but think this is highly unlikely now.

Thanks for these, I’ve got an easy day today (Carter), so I will try and watch/listen to a bit of the podcasts.

Anything much more testing and I can’t concentrate on the info and tend to just listen to music.

85 sounds like a realistic cadence, but I guess the higher the better. Chris Froome, a 6.5W/kg rider, uses semi-compact up mountainous stages, to be able to spin at 95+ even on Mortirolo/Zoncolan/Angliru type monster climbs.
It takes a lot of getting used to and forcing yourself to spin.
I did a climb in Bavaria last year, 15 minutes at 9.5%. I had everything planned exactly, and how I would spin up there in 90 cadence.
I managed 75 cadence, because I had to get out of the saddle so frequently
 theory doesn’t always translate into reality

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One of the best by-products from HR. I made some good friends that I’ve now ridden with at other events that are local to us as well as communicate via Strava, etc.

I was about to do the climbing road race specialty too but a few weeks ago on one of the podcasts it was mentioned that the century plan was better for long days in the saddle and you are not planning on racing and the target descriptions back it up

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Thanks for posting this, I guess I still can’t quite except I’m not going to be racing for the win!

You’re right though, having the engine to get around in a steady state is really what I’m after.

Do you know which podcast this was discussed on? I’ll take a listen to it as must have missed it first time around.

This is great news and kind off what I am hoping for.

I’m doing all of these events solo, so to find some riding buddies would be a major win.

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Why FTP Isn’t Everything, Finding a Base Plan, Plyometrics and More – Ask a Cycling Coach 273

1:31:31 How to train for and execute very long rides

Thanks, I took a listen and it does make sense.

Crans-Montana, Switzerland, 3-Day course details are out. For me the perfect event to get used to this style of event (before the big boy event in the Dolomites).
https://blog.hauteroute.org/en/2021-haute-route-crans-montana-stage-descriptions

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An event like this in my TR calendar as a B race!

Here’s hoping it happens.

Just noticed TR gives me Monday after Crans Montana off and then has me doing a ramp test on Tues!

I usually do FTP tests after my toughest weeks.
Friday: Threshold Intervals, Saturday Sprint Intervals + Base riding, Sunday long high base ride
Monday: off, Tuesday: activation ride, Wednesday: Test

So doing it after such a touch weekend might actually be a good choice. It has worked very well for me at least.