6 weeks to prepare for the 2015 Etape du Tour.

[Kawasicki]

johnxjsc1985 said:

Very well done mate that is such a great effort

Thanks!

[Kawasicki]

johnxjsc1985 said:

Think I have done well over 175k miles but I have never done what you have just done I am almost motivated to get back on the bike but thankfully that moment has gone.

Do it. With a bit of grit and determination, some good quality training and the right gearing you can do it.

[Kawasicki]

47p2 said:

Well done

Thanks

[Kawasicki]

Pachydermus said:

Chapeau! If you can do that with minimal training I imagine if you keep going you'll be able to join the real race next year.

Thanks. I agree with you, but I would also say that the finishing position had a lot to do with not voluntarily stopping for more than 2 minutes in total the whole day. Also...I overtook thousands on the descents. Heart rate climbing was around 160 bpm, descending was 10 bpm higher. That was the only bit I really enjoyed.

[Kawasicki]

johnxjsc1985 said:

when i was TT'ing at age 45 I was still banging out at 185bpm at 160bpm when climbing you must havebeen coasting

Holy crap.

I was bricking it that something would go wrong if I pushed any harder, I wasn't intentionally going easy. I knew I could sustain 175bpm for a couple of hours and that I could stay riding for 9 hours....that was the extent of my knowledge. If I do the event next year, I will give it all I've got. In the mean time, I'm going to keep training. I'll back off the duration for the sake of the family, but to keep me focused I'll also do some beginner level local bike racing.

[Kawasicki]

outnumbered said:

That's a hell of an effort on six weeks training. Well done!

Thanks. A colleague at work who has been doing tough alpine sportives for 25 years gave me a ton of good advice. And I trained hard in the 6 weeks.

[Kawasicki]

richardxjr said:

Kawa, fantastic well done! Looks like 1/3 of the starters DNF. A lot got caught the wrong side of delays caused by bad descent accidents apparently, then got swept up as ran out of time.

I started in pen 13, I was held up for 45 minutes on an early descent too. There was a gigantic stream of cyclists all walking downhill to a concrete bridge with an "interesting" transition to the asphalt road.

[Kawasicki]

Longers said:

Bit late replying to this topic, it's taken me a few days to get back to normal after such an epic / brutal / rewarding experience last Sunday!

Kawasicki, that's an amazing result I think anyone who finished deserves a HUGE

I was riding with Mr Plow who was wearing his PH cycling shirt. A couple of guys commented on it during the ride, including one in Banbury shorts & jersey. We then saw another PH shirt outside the pasta party which turned out to be Janosh - good to meet you briefly

Cheers,
L'rs

Thanks Longers. Well done to you too. I went out on a training ride with a local group on Wednesday evening for a couple of hours. I'm still as weak as ever... so the training will continue.