I’ll be riding L’Etape in France again this year: 130km, 4500m of climbing. I’m on a Gran Fondo plan and that’s all going well. FTP of 250+, 50yrs old, many years of riding including using TR.
I live in North Yorkshire and have been steadily building the outdoor mileage over the last few months, now up to around 3300m of climbing and 140+ km. The issue I have is that the climbs here are brutal: relatively short but very steep i.e plenty of ramps at 15-20% and a “steady” climb is normally 10%. Whilst that develops strength (and a fair bit of mental resilience) it doesn’t come close to replicating the long, slow climbs in France which very rarely exceed 10%. The prospect of a few more long days in the saddle, getting smashed on climbs in the Dales, doesn’t fill me with much excitement!
I was wondering what people thought of swapping out a long outdoor ride with three 1hr 30 high Tempo/low Sweet Spot sessions to mimic the effort of multiple long Alpine climbs. Am thinking of doing a SS session, then take a break for half an hour (replicating a descent) then hopping back on and repeating once or twice. Yes, I know it will be mentally draining to be on the turbo for that long, but perhaps it’s more reflective of the event than the joys of Fleet Moss, Buttertubs, Greenhow, Park Rash etc! The other benefit is that I might be able to build in some heat adaption at the same time.
Hi IanC, also going L’Etape. And now I think this was bad idea…but whatever, too late. I like your idea of training climbing at TT. What I do now, I have proxy climb 5% average over 10km, and I repeat it multiple times in a row. I noticed that sustainably I can do 1h climbing at 80-82% (I do it conservatively as I know I need to climb other 2times). So what would do if I had to train on TT is to do 2 sessions per day 1-1.5h, morning and eve and maybe even 2d in a row, just to have those tempo zone accumulation. Longer time per session would be mentally killing on TT.
Hi Artur - good to hear from you! Great that you’re also doing L’Etape: how are you feeling about it generally?
My aim is to do 2 or 3 low Sweet Spot or high Tempo sessions (around 1hr 15/1hr 30) relatively close together i.e. with a 45 minute break to replicate the gaps between the big climbs on the day of the event. It isn’t going to be easy, but my thinking is that it might more accurately reflect the steady demands of the climbs like Col du Pre and La Plagne.
Any thoughts from the rest of the TR community would be much appreciated!
I’m based in the Alpes and ride gran fondos every year, the advice I always suggest to my UK based friends is do 2-3h at z2 outdoors ride then immediately jump on the trainer and do 3x 30’ tempo/sweet spot…that’s the easiest way I can think of to simulate the effort
Edit Col du Pré is the hardest climb in this years EdT…second half hardly drops below 10%
I’ve prepped for long fondos like L’Étape using mostly sweet spot indoors due to weather and time limits. Back-to-back SS sessions can absolutely build the aerobic durability needed—especially if you include some tempo-over-unders. I still try to squeeze in one outdoor endurance ride every couple of weeks just for mental prep and handling skills. It’s worked well for me.
Generally the TR plan I used worked well. Substituting a long outdoor ride with three SS sessions was tough, but I found it productive. The hard part was dealing with the monotony of sitting on the turbo for the best part of 4.5 hours!
This year’s route was hard, but manageable. Col du Pre was difficult - not because of the gradient, but because the road was so narrow. Literally single lane road with 5 riders abreast and similar in front or behind you. There was nowhere to go if someone wobbled in front of you.
2026 route looks tough and one of the longest/greatest amount of climbing for a number of years. We were lucky this year with the weather: big storms on the Saturday kept the temperature down on race day. If you get a hot day in July then Galibier and Telegraphe will be pretty unpleasant. Have you done L’Etape before?
Hey Richard. This was my fourth L’Etape and I’ve used the TR Gran Fondo plan each time with good results.
I don’t know where you’re based: I’m in Yorkshire in the UK. Unless you’re lucky enough to live in the Alps, then it will be near impossible to fully replicate the demands of L’Etape in training. The best solution for me was to hit the turbo hard, following the plan, slowly building FTP and focusing on long sustainable power output. I supplemented that with long rides outside (i.e. between 6 and 8 hours) to build endurance, resilience and to get my nutrition right.
100% agree and especially on the long rides to build the durability. I prepared exactly as you described.
I would also like to note that it probably makes a lot of sense to include heat adaptation training: Indoors (sauna, bathtub, heat training) when the weather does not permit it and when it starts to get warmer outside, consciously ride in the midday heat (at reduced intensity!). Depending on the weather in France, this can be crucial and I believe it helped me alot last year.
