Not on my regular routes. I’m going to seek some out and probably try to ride parts of the course multiple times before the actual events. Hoping that’ll help me track my progress.
Yup…that looks to be it. I still have to see if I get in though.
Rather than talking watts/kg, I find it more useful to look at/try the type of uphill that is required.
For me, climbs comes in two categories:
Category 1
A climb with a steepness, versus my gearing that allows me to choose the intensity. I.e. I can ride it at endurance pace/low tempo if I choose (by lowering my speed)
Category 2
A climb that is so steep, that with my current weight/equipment/gearing forces me into threshold or worse, no matter how slow I go.
So I would study the race course closely, and identify the climbs, and see where they might fall for you. 10 000feet of climbing is not so bad if it’s on a 5% slope. 1 500feet can be super taxing on a 25% hill!
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Absolutely…the side of the equation you are leaving out is gearing. You need to ensure you have a sufficiently low enough gear that you can stay at or below 3 W/KG (or whatever threshold you set) on the climbs.
What gearing are you currently running on your gravel bike?
Make Alpe d’ Zwift your best friend.
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I have a gravel bike with Di2 GRX @ 30/40 for a low gear, but steep descents are terrifying because I feel way too far forward. Even if I could get up the climb, coming down steep grades is a white knuckle experience. At my height, there’s alot of seatpost showing and I feel “on top” of the bike.
For at least the first few rides next year (and my practice rides) I’m going to use my hardtail with 1x11 and a dropper. I can get down to 32/46. I could swap out my derailleur to run a Deore 11-51 cassette too if needed.
Yeah, having a high center of gravity on steep stuff kinda sucks.
Do you have a round post on your gravel bike? If so, would definitely recommend a dropper for it.
Sounds plan on using the hardtail for now…and remember @ambermalika advice…“I’ve never met a lower gear that I didn’t like.” 
Better to have it and not need it than risk blowing up on a long, sustained climb.
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3 w/kg and you should be all good to have fun and not get crushed. Last summer, I was at ~3.2 w/kg for Gravel Worlds at 160lbs, where I rode the 75 mile course. It wasn’t quite as hilly as VT, but it was 5000 feet across those 75 miles. I finished in just over 5 hours, which put me at like 100th/400. Looks like my NP for the ride was 161, or 70% FTP at the time. Nothing crazy at all.
You got this. Your goal and plan are solid, but remember to have fun. Gravel rides/races are an absolute blast!
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Coming back to this. Do you have any income that could be invested into a sports nutritionist? This might be a good time to outsource some things so that you’re losing weight and getting stronger simultaneously, which I believe is 100% possible.
We can talk equipment all day, but your diet has to improve and is the most important equation here. I have 4 children (preschool, 1st grade, 3rd grade, a puppy) and family obligations, but my wife and I keep our meals very simple and maintain only about 5-7 variations for our dinners. It’s easy.
Breakfast is always one of the following:
- 1C oats w/blueberries, walnuts, and 2 tsp of pure maple syrup (you can do a lot of variations on this) and a slice of toast with 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter. I like Ezekiel or Silver Hills Squirrelly bread.
- 2-3 eggs scrambled with spinach, onions, and two slices of toast (sometimes I don’t do the spinach or onions)
- 1 huge bowl of regular Cheerios with blueberries (I like frozen wild…sweeter, more nutrient dense) and two slices of toast with 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter on both slices
- Kodiak cakes. If I’m feeling the need for something sweet I’ll fire up the griddle and make some pancakes. Always Kodiak Buttermilk though. High in protein, and low in all the bad stuff. Top with sliced bananas, or add sliced apples or berries into the batter. Delicious. Good race day meal.
Lunch is hugely varied, but tends to be left over dinner from the night before. Or if I have to cook it’ll be a really simple omelette. When I was working at the office it was required more prep.
Snacks, again, simple. I opt for fruits, nuts, and greek yogurt with nuts and fruit. If I’m in a hurry I like the Good & Gather protein bars (like RX bars) or fruit & nut bars (only have dates, nuts, and fruit) from Target. One thing that we do almost daily is make smoothies.
Buying a good blender has been worth every one of those 300 dollars. I goes like this: 2 cup water, 1 cup almond milk, 2 bananas, 3-4 cups spinach, 3/4 cup frozen fruit (Target has good options), a shit ton of cinnamon, and your favorite protein powder. Sometimes I’ll add things like chia, ground flaxseed, cocoa, spirulina or other things.
Dinner is where we buckle down and keep it simple. This is a typical rotation.
- Grassfed burgers with sweet potato fries or sauteed broccoli or broccolini.
- Vegetarian whole wheat enchiladas. The guts consist of black beans, roasted sweet potatoes, onions, and or brown rice.
- Vegetable lasagna. Like a regular lasagna but roast up some cauliflower, broccoli, and load it up with frozen spinach.
- Rice bowls. Can do anything here. Mexican, Thai, etc. Brown rice, beans, veggies, the options are endless. Get some good simmer sauces and things to flavor them up.
- Marinated chicken breasts, or trimmed thighs with w/e vegetable and potatoes I’m feeling like.
- Salads, like the rice bowls, you can do anything.
- Find a good recipe on Healthyish and give it a shot.
Pretty simple really. I’m a boring eater, but have a huge appreciation for excellent food. But, at home, we keep it simple because we are busy.
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I don’t know whether a nutritionist is in the cards right now but I’m going to look into it. I can’t thank you enough for this though…I’m literally printing out your post and taking notes so get a good start.
THANK YOU!!
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Thats a good starting point from @anthonylane and if you are looking for more formal help without going full 1-1, and can spare $99, a registered dietician wrote the FasCat meal plan Meal Plans – FasCat Coaching and when ordering you plug in some high-level details (hours per week and weight). Previous years they had Black Friday sales, if I remember correctly. The plan comes with instructions on how to make modifications. There are some podcasts about it: Training Tips – Tagged "nutrition"– FasCat Coaching
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Also a big guy (6’3, 205 lbs built like a linebacker) who likes long gravel races. My w/kg at my A race gravel ride last year was between 2.9 and 3 depending on the day. It was a 100 mile race with about 5000 ft of elevation, but the route is insanely difficult. It took me 7hr 17 min to finish. I finished in the top 50%. I did it with a friend of mine who has a similar FTP as me but weighs at least 20 lbs less. I beat him by nearly an hour.
The reason I beat him is because I had a better pacing plan and a better nutrition plan.
I bring this up because I think 3 w/kg is a good goal. That is probably the w/kg where you can feel like you are actually racing some people rather than just trying to finish. However, if you don’t pace properly or eat enough you will feel like you are just trying to finish no matter what your w/kg is.
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@voldemort What did you run for gearing? 2x or 1x, and what was your lowest gear?
@Power13 You’re right about having the right gears! Say I can hit 2.8-3 W/kg, what do you think would be a good low gear? On my 1x11 MTB now I have a 32t chain ring and 11-40 cassette. I was thinking of going 34T (max on my frame) since there’s a good amount of pavement on most routes, and then 11-46 on the rear. I’d need a new Deore derailleur to go 11-51, but I wonder if that’s maybe overkill? I think the gaps between gears would be more noticeable.
Just got in to Rooted Vermont!!! Time to train!!!
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It really depends on the nature of the climbs…how does the 32x40 feel on the climbs you do now and how do they compare against those in the event?
I personally like a 1:1 for my smallest gear…if I can’t get over something in that gear, I’m walking no matter what…but I am closer to 4 w/kg (just a hair under). My gut says 34x46 should be sufficient…
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Awesome thanks!! My local “climbs” aren’t that difficult so I need to start finding new routes. With parts availability being so crazy, I’ll probably just grab the 11x46 when I can find it.