stapfam

I know I live in a hilly area but no single hill is longer than 1 mile or higher than an 800ft rise. So in preparation for a trip to the Alpes a few years ago- I did Hill repeats up the steepest hill. They did my head in. 3 times up and the brain also told my body that I had done enough. It was so boring that I had to find a different way of getting climbs in so I found a route that gave me 2,500ft of climbing-in 12 miles. Give say 10 miles before and 10 miles after and that turned into a good training ride.

There is no way that this prepared me for Ventoux but it gave me an insight as to how tired you can feel on continual climbing. My preparation may not have prepared me enough but to be honest- Ventoux was a dream ride. Took it steady- saved energy and only had 3 breaks for extra water and something to eat.

But the bit of training that worked was riding the local region- plenty of short sharp slopes of about 200yards at 15 to 20 %. Force yourself up them at a cadence of 80 and you know you have worked hard. It was not the physical effort that got me up those slopes- it was mental power of knowing that they are not long and Ventoux will be worse- It wasn't.