PH does the (UK bit of the) Tour de France

[richardxjr]

Go on then, as long as we can sort logistics out. I'll try and sort a +1 as well.

[j00pY]

I was thinking that I would aim to be doing 300 miles per week by May to be ready for this. Does that sound like a good training plan for this? I'm a bit of a noob so don't know what exactly to aim for.

[964Cup]

1. Gruffy - Full Monty
2. M3John - TBC
3. Tony Hetherington - Full Monty
4. Anthony - TBC
5. Marcel - TBC
6. JT - Fully Monty
7. Marcellus - I'd give the full monty a bash
8. waterwonder - TBC
9. Nikolai - TBC
10. pablo - TBC
11. bakerstreet - TBC
12. Johnny - Full Monty. What's the worst that could happen..?
13. j00py - Full Monty
14. tobinen - Stage 3
15. pembo - Stage 3
16. pembo's +1 - Stage 3
17. GarryDK - Stage 3 (maybe more)
18. Black Can Man - Stage 3
19. Pete R - Full Monty
20. Swerni - full monty. ( someone's got to make you lot look good) wink
21. SixPotBelly - Stage 3
22. richardxjr - Full Monty
23. 964Cup - Full Monty

I'll talk to my club and see if anyone else wants to come, and if anyone's up for providing support/logistics.

[964Cup]

j00pY said:

I was thinking that I would aim to be doing 300 miles per week by May to be ready for this. Does that sound like a good training plan for this? I'm a bit of a noob so don't know what exactly to aim for.

Depends on the terrain, and the type of riding. The climbs will be the killer, more than the distance, and getting on the bike for day 3 will be a challenge in itself.

[richardxjr]

I'm going to do my usual 10 hrs/week of mixed road and XC riding over winter & spring. Then add a bi-weekly longer ride in adding to the distance each month.

So something like
Jan 2 x 100k rides,
Feb 2 x 150k rides,
Mar 2 x 200k rides
Apr 2 x 250k rides (in the same week, in Scotland for me)

All hilly and at touring pace (14-15mph for me) and 150k upwards will involve stopping for a bit of food. I'll be treating the 3x200 as an audax type endurance ride, as preparation itself for bigger rides later.

[Gruffy]

I agree. The big focus for me will be on the volume of climbing and recovering from back-to-back big rides. So I'll be ramping up the climbing, including some longer steep climbs (or repeats) and trying to fit in at least one 150km + 150km weekend in per month.

And I'll be trying to replace The Mighty Triban with something more suitable.

[tobinen]

Interesting. Having never ridden 100 miles in a day, any top tips for preparation for stage three (or just generally)? I'm up to about 40 miles as my furthest so far but I want to up that gradually.

[Gruffy]

For a single ride of 100 miles it really just needs pacing and good nutrition. Stay out of the red and keep the food and water going in. Then you need to build up your body's tolerance for that much time in the saddle. The only way to do that is to build up your time in the saddle. If you can work up to 75 miles in April you'll be able to bridge the gap on the big day.

[richardxjr]

Yep, I went (on road) from 100k to 100m with just a Ham Egg & Chips lunch


(ETA Am I doing this right? I'm hoping there'll be a natural split of young TdF-style racers and older boys like me who will want to stop and eat a bit)

Edited by richardxjr on Wednesday 17th December 12:17

[anonymous-user]

On the other hand, a one off 100 mile in a day ride is about tuning in to your inner-Belgian, gritting your teeth, burying yourself deep in the pain cave and then taking the next two days off work whilst your body recalibrates itself

I may well only be able to do the two Yorkshire stages and will be driving up from the SW the day before stage 1 and back after the inevitable stage 2 pasta fest if anyone wants to share a ride?

I'm trying to get a full 3 stage pass but with C2C and Velothon Wales, its already tight...

[Zeds]

Berz said:

The first 15 miles of stage 2 (York to Sheffield) are very dull. ....
Best of luck though

As is last 20 miles of stage 1:

http://www.strava.com/activities/156786509
Would like to have done stage 2 at the time but no time

Peter

[Gruffy]

richardxjr said:

I'm hoping there'll be a natural split of young TdF-style racers and older boys like me who will want to stop and eat a bit.

I'm sure that'll be the case. Probably more than two groups, I have thought.

If we have a designated lunch stop at the midway point it'll help with logistics (support car can carry supplies to restock jersey pockets for the second half). It'll also keep it social by allowing the different groups to meet up again, even if there's only a brief overlap.

[anonymous-user]

I'm thinking daily awards too, one for the KoM, any rouleur who attempts an epic solo breakaway, the lantern rouge, forfeits for bad maintenance or poor bike handling skills and some other things to make the pain seem bearable....

[Gruffy]

I wonder if Lizzie would close her driveway for us so that we can have an heroic sprint finish to Stage 3?

[pembo]

I have noticed a small issue with joining you for stage 3, my plan is to get the train from Ipswich on the Sunday morning but it seems the earliest I can get to Cambridge station is 9am.

Thankfully the start is pretty close to the station but if you are planning to leave at or before 9am I will have to try to catch you up!

[anonymous-user]

Should I be riding stage 3, I can assure you I will absolutely not be starting before 0900....

[Gruffy]

By that point I'll have 400km and most of Everest under my belt. I'm unlikely to be a morning person on day 3 either.

[CoolC]

Not sure whether to put this here or start a new thread.

http://letour.yorkshire.com/tour-de-yorkshire/spor...

[Jorrocks]

Gruffy,

Can you put me down for Stage 3? Possibly with a +1

As an aside, if anyone else fancies a PH London to Brighton then I'd be up for that.

Jorrocks.

[Black can man]

I'm definitely up for a PH London to Brighton run.