A bit of Deja Vu on todays ride. The heavy rain that was forecasted over night was still there in the morning. Whilst the weather radar suggested it wasn’t going to last long it again that put off a lot of folk, so we again merged groups and did the shorter slower ride.
I’m not quite sure what happened to the cafe stop but it was a good job we didn’t stop when I had my own cafe stop back in the house it started to bucket again.
So I had to clean this after:
Yesterday was the Alpenbrevet in Andermatt. I did the Gold again which is 211k/5000m over 4 passes. Start was early at 5.45 so it was still dark. It starts with the Oberalppass immediately which is somewhat of a “warmup” it’s 10km at 5.6% but the first 8km are closer to 7% and then it flattens of. Looked amazing to see the lights snaking up the climb on top we rode onto the dawn. Then it is the descent into dissentis.
And then the Lukmanier starts 17k at 4.5% it starts steep with some tunnels then gets flat and shallow towards the Dam it climbs again at 7% felt good on the climb really needed to reign myself on to keep me on my pacing target. Then it’s a long descent to Biasca first part is steep and then it’s more 1-3% with some steeper sections. Got into a strong group and decided to keep up with them for part of the long drag towards Airolo. But had to let them go on one of the steeper sections as it was just to hard. Made it to Airolo still feeling pretty good.
Next up was the Nufenen 21k at 5.8% up to nearly 2500m. The first 8km or so are shallow and then it starts to get steep with prolonged sections way over 10%. Still felt pretty good on the climb and managed a decent 235w for the whole thing, I probably should have taken it a bit easier in the last 2km, because I think I paid for that later… The weather got bad towards the top it was in the clouds with light drizzel and temperature below 10C . But over the top and down the other side the sun was out and temps went up over 20 degree in the valley.
Last short stop in Ulriche to refill and them towards the Furka which is 16k at 6.5% and tops out at 2400m . Realised pretty soon that I wouldn’t be able to hold that 235w from the previous climb, the first part has steep bits on it then it levels of a bit through Gletsch and the the hairpins towards the hotel belvedere have really steep pinches again. I really struggled to put up 200w up there in the last part…made it to the top after what felt like an eternity. Descent is on a narrow and twisty road were you get held up by slow cars… Was on pace to make it under 10h so I gave it everything that I had left in the last 10mins towards Andermatt… Made it in 9h49min.
Pretty happy with that. Considering that training the last month wasn’t optimal and I’m 3-4kg over where I should be. Went way better then last year where I had a flat and it then took me 12h20min moving time was also down from 9h45m to 9h32min. Fueling went well to didn’t reach 90g per hour but close to it at around 5-6h I needed to dial it back a bit because I could feel the bloating. But after just taking in some water and giving it a bit of time I could get my selfmade gel on again. The conditions were pretty good for climbing with temps mostly in the 12 to 20 degree range except the top of the Nufenen. I often found myself stating the climbs with faster people because I made ip a good amount of time on the descents and with relatively short refills.
For anyone that wants to do the event try to keep something in the tank for the steep part of the Furka it really gets brutal. Also it would be really nice if they could close the Nufenen because the amount of cars and especially motorcycles was a bit annoying…
Was totally done for after it. Needed to be really careful with my legs or they would cramp up. Also slept like shit and getting up and down stairs is no fun today.
Now for some pics.
After that point I just suffered and all thoughts of taking pictures went out the window.
Type II fun eh? 
. Good work.
Very happy with today’s ride. Finally dipped into the mid 60’s on the gulf coast. I do polarized training so basically everything I do is either easy (endurance) rides with a low heart rate, or interval sessions around and above FTP. My FTP is 262 so my typical easy rides are around the 140-160 watt range.
With that in mind, other than races, I never test myself much in the threshold/sweet spot ranges.
At the end of April I was very pleased with my 189 watts for just over 3 hours in a race. My next race isn’t until mid November, and we have a baby due Friday, so wanted to test myself with a near all out effort today. My goal was over 200 watts for a 100k (3-3.5 hrs). I managed 207 watts, for the distance. I’m not sure how FTP growth correlates to watts over 3 hrs, but an increase of 18 watts seems solid, particularly that todays ride was just a solo ride with tons of turns and small hills which made the power more challenging.
Keep inching closer to the elusive (for me!) 20 mph solo century but it wasn’t in the cards for me today. Might have made it with a tighter jersey, bit less wind, and shaved legs though 
There was a decent breeze but temps were perfect 
This is my best average power for 100 miles and beat my previous best by 11W!!
My Garmin glitched and rebooted ~80mi in and I was going to start crying like a baby on the side of the road if I lost everything, but luckily it came back up to the pause screen and I was able to resume my ride. Something funky must have happened though…either that, or I’ll be expecting a call from Jumbo any day now
LOL! Here I am trying to get to 3w/kg and you’re at 30w/kg!
Rode a total of 1.84 miles at the BMX State Championship.
Took home the #1 plate in 61 & over Cruiser bike and #3 plate in 56 & over Novice/Intermediate Class bike.
Grandson took home the #2 plate in 7yr old Cruiser bike and #3 plate in 7yr old Novice/Intermediate Class bike.
Best part of the day was the grandson telling me to go have fun.
I love everything about this!!! 
Looks like a great day all around!
Keep after it. One day you’ll ride that century and not thinking about it and boom, it will happen.
Shaved legs are not just for the speed they may bring. Nothing worse than a nurse spending an hour, or more, trying to remove embedded hairs out of an already painful road rash wound… speaking from experience.
You will need an e-bike if you ever get chased by one of those 
. Consider it for your own safety
2 sets of 12-second sprints
Hains Point, Washington DC, USA
Basically a Z2 ride (“strict Z2” for those that listened to the most recent podcast) with eight sprints, one every lap. My sprint power sucks but this was a fun workout and the sprints broke up the monotony of doing solo laps. Love riding in the early morning, though, and enjoyed the sunrise and seeing the park come to life as walkers, runners, and other cyclists came out.
Interesting note (at least to me) that you can see in the graphs where the two gates were shut and I had to hop the curb or coast through a rain gutter, then the absence of these on the last four laps when they were open. The one ever-so-slight blip that remained on the last four laps was a hard right turn at the northern corner.
Ran 21.6km to work yesterday. A rare event for me and the first full distance this year for me. Crisp and sunny as we had arctic winds in this week.
Quite happy with the steady jog pace, although I felt it near the end the pace didn’t drop much.
Its a nice feeling if you’ve never tried it.
3x 15 min tempo
Prince William County, VA, USA
Did an extra set and bumped the power up to sweet spot to make it 4x 15 @ SS. Met the wife at the soccer fields for the first of two kiddo games for the day.
EDIT: Obligatory photo of the country side, after the sun rose and the fog lifted.
How does it compare to the Marmotte?
I have a thing for silos with cool paint. Thanks for sharing.
Went for a nice gravel ride with the wife today in Chappell Hill, TX (about an hour NW of Houston). It’s been a little cooler here lately, but the hurricane that pushed through Louisiana took our nice air with it and it was very hot and humid with feels like temps in the 90s. I’m looking forward to a some cooler temps in a few weeks,
The F11/10 TT for me today in Tring a pretty poor time considering the gift hill in the middle. A little side wind and I was 31secs slower down the hill. The potholes on route never helped either. I was probably 95% upright and only 5% aero. My stomach wasn’t the best either. My power meter never kicked in till circa halfway too but I don’t think that was the issue. I managed the smooth and flatter (no bonus hill) F2A/10 over a minute faster last year :-/
Rode around with a friend for a while today in the scorching heat. The last 70 miles were interesting with a dead di2.
@Majoeric 150 miles! Damn, that’s serious, even if it’s pan flat.
