Skip to main content
Well here we go....

All packed, car loaded, tapering and worrying. I couldn't fit my race wheels and Powertap into the bike bags so had to deliberate long and hard on which was coming with me. Should I take the PT so I can keep a watchfull eye on my power output on the day? Would it be better just to go all out and forget about power? Would I get the pacing right without it? Wouldn't it be better just to hit pain and work through it? The race wheels are lighter, more responsive and stiffer, that would help on the day?

I left the powertap at home.

So, we fly to Grenoble tomorrow, and have an afternoon to unpack and build bikes etc. Then on Monday we're out for a bit of shopping and a light spin to loosen up the legs and get out into the surrounding countryside.

Then the serious stuff begins;
  • Tuesday 3rd - Alpe D'Huez TT - Lone ride against the clock hard as possible. Followed by rest then spin down and do it again with the missus taking photos along the way. Rest of the day to mill about and get back to Grenoble for birthday dinner etc.
  • Wednesday 4th - Lac Luittel - A scenice ride out to Sechillienne and tackle my arch nemesis from last year.
  • Thursday 5th - Mont Ventoux - Drive a fair whack down to Provence then a couple of hours of pain ascending the "Giant". If it goes well I might think about doing all 3 climbs (but that is most unlikely!).

Then Friday we return to Blighty.

A bit of radio silence may ensue between now and Friday - rest assured I will be posting the outcomes - regardless of the outcome.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support since October -- I know they will make the difference when I'm in pain and digging deep... hopefully after 20 minutes not 5 !!!!

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE AT ETAPE ANGLAIS ON SUNDAY! [Sitting here Sunday at 05:45 the weather is looking fantastic - ride safe and enjoy]

Cheers, Mark

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Wireguard setup for dummies

We all know that Dad is the IT infrastructure manager at home, so when it became clear that we needed a VPN for everyone to enjoy that infrastructure (aka access to streaming services) on their phones and laptops when they were away- it became Dad's job to make it happen.  My first instinct was to get a Unifi device since I've got lots of them already. Something like the USG or Dream Machine and use the hardware VPN support from there. But then I baulked at the costs for something with enough horsepower, anywhere from £99 to £350. I looked at their Edgerouter X and other devices like the Netgate pfsense and thought, heck, how hard can it be to install a VPN server on my Linux workstation and do it for nothing ? So I started with OpenVPN but couldn't get it to work or work out how to configure clients. So I switched to OpenVPN access server and couldn't even get it to install (I am using Ubuntu 23.04 right now and its not supported). I watched some videos from Cross
Read more

W'bal its implementation and optimisation

So, the implementation of W'bal in GoldenCheetah has been a bit of a challenge. The Science I wanted to explain what we've done and how it works in this blog post, but realised that first I need to explain the science behind W'bal, W' and CP. W' and CP How hard can you go, in watts, for half an hour is going to be very different to how hard you can go for say, 20 seconds. And then thinking about how hard you can go for a very long time will be different again. But when it comes to reviewing and tracking changes in your performance and planning future workouts you quickly realise how useful it is to have a good understanding of your own limits. In 1965 two scientists Monod and Scherrer presented a ‘Critical Power Model’ where the Critical Power of a muscle is defined as ‘the maximum rate of work that it can keep up for a very long time without fatigue’. They also proposed an ‘energy store’ (later to be termed W’, pronounced double-ewe-prime) that represente
Read more

Implementing the Banister Impulse-Response Model in GoldenCheetah

Over January 2019 I implemented the Banister model in GoldenCheetah, along the way I learned a little about its strengths and weaknesses. This post is about that; explaining the Banister model and how it relates to the PMC , how it has been implemented in GoldenCheetah and what it's limitations are. I've also added a bit at the end covering some of the things I'm looking to do with this next from potential model improvements through to deep learning. In some ways this post is a longer written form of this tutorial I recorded covering Banister and GoldenCheetah. The Banister Impulse Response model In 1975 Eric Banister proposed an impulse-response model that could be used to correlate past training with changes in performance in order to predict future improvements from future training. Originally proposed for working with collegiate swimmers it was reworked in 1990 for working with running and of course also applicable for cycling. Each type of sport needed a w
Read more