Climb the Tour De France

jimzy

Thought this was a pretty good idea, looks like an interesting challenge over the course of the TDF!

"Climb the same amount of elevation over the six high mountain stages in the Pyrenees and the Alps. This totals out at 21,125m of climbing. What the pros will do in nine days you will have 22 to complete"

I'm sure I won't get anywhere near the target, but if nothing else it should be a good source of motivation to get some serious climbing done over the next few weeks. I'll try and keep a log of some kind here and feel free join the fun if anyone else is that way inclined!

Here's a link to the Rapha site I spotted it on: http://www.rapha.cc/rapha-rising

vistafinder

ouch! Thats about 46 times to the top of the preists leap haaa:eek:

jimzy

vistafinder wrote: »

ouch! Thats about 46 times to the top of the preists leap haaa:eek:

Haha yeah I know, insane stuff. Not a hope in hell, but should be a good source of motivation along the way!
Kind of puts it in perspective the amount of climbing they do, along with insane distances. Here we go:

Day 1 - 27km - 404m
Climbed up Mount Leinster
then freewheeled back down.

jimzy

Day 2 - 27km - 195m ascent
Commute to work today (a round trip of 27km, coincidentally the same distance as yesterdays spin up Mt. Leinster), tried to navigate my way towards as many climbs I could along the route, two small category 5 climbs along the way was as much as I could find.

I would normally try to cover ground as quickly as possible on the bike, I guess my average speed is somewhere around 25 - 27 kmph depending on the terrain but these last few cycles have seen that drop down to 20 ish, with the focus on climbing. Very enjoyable I must say, taking it a bit slower to get through the climbing. I'm sure my legs will thank me next month.

Total climbing: 599 metres
Only 20,000 or so to go, should be a doddle...

jimzy

Day 3 - 21km - 69m ascent
Met up with a fellow boardsie for a handy 21k spin, we only climbed 69m was a relatively flat route we took as we were tight on time.

Day 4 - 51km - 509m ascent
Made up for yesterdays flat route by heading out for a spin at 7 before work to get a good climb in, felt great afterwards (25km - 379m). Commute to and from work (26km - 130m).

I'm not going to get anywhere near even half the amount but already after a few days of constant focus on climbing I can see the hills becoming easier. If nothing else, its proving a good source of motivation to get out on the bike every day!

Total ascent: 1,177m
or in old money that's 3,861ft

Note to mods: sorry i guess this should have been in 'cycling training logs' instead of 'cycling'

jimzy

Probably my most intense week on the bike so far, covered just over 280km or so, legs feeling pretty good afterwards too. Trying to make my commute to work as intense as possible covering as many climbs as i can, getting into the habit of getting an hour or two in before work too.

On Sunday a few of us headed on out at half 7 to do some of the tour of Kilkenny 110k route, lovely spin, covered most of it and went a little wrong along the way ended up doing almost 120k. Woodstock hill at Inistioge was fun at 9 in the morning!

The past few days have been something like this:

Day 5: Thursday 7th July – 38km – 227m ascent
Day 6: Friday 8th July – 29km – 112m ascent
Day 7: Saturday 9th July – rest
Day 8: Sunday 10th July – 117km – 867m ascent

Total climbing: 2,383m

Or that's 7,818ft...

manafana

intersting challenge best of luck.