Interesting report on the Struggle. For reference I took 21.5 minutes at 314W, 4.1W/kg, average cadence 61 and in lowest gear 34-28 (or 29, not sure) for all the climbing sections. Might be tiny bit different start point, think that’s from the roundabout for me but might be from The Struggle road sign which would cut out a couple minutes if so.
Anyone on Strava premium able to see my descent time on the leaderboard? I had a lovely cautious descent stuck behind a car, but will be telling myself to try be almost as cautious on race day.
Fully agree that unless you want to ride the struggle there’s no real reason to recce the bike course its very straightforward TT course with 2 hills. Traffic should be far less on a Sunday morning too
Maybe I should get myself up there to look at the run course, even if just for directions. I’d have to walk the entire way as recce though, longest run for 3 months is 8km.
Oh!
Forgot to mention, if you rode without bar tape (like I do) probably best taking padded gloves.
My hands were slipping off the bars on the Struggle due to sweat (the sun was directly above me, not due to any effort )
And descending Kirkstone my palms were digging right into the bullhorns.
Forgot to mention, I stopped at the sign for photos after the first steep bit, just as you’re leaving the village.
I set my BEST EVER 20 minutes power going up (and I honestly was taking it easy!)
I was doing some low cadence work this morning and did realise that if your test numbers were correct then you plan on doing 20 minutes at around 105% FTP at an inevitably low cadence. That’s a large amount of muscle recruitment with a tough run to follow.
But then what you’ve posted while I was out makes look like it might be more realistic.
I cannot get a lower gear than 34-30, without buying a new cassette and rear mech (which are both 10 speed, so not just a quick trip to the shop - I’m more than happy to botch a few new links into a chain, I always keep the spare ones and have a soldering gun)
I don’t believe the FTP, or that it works for me?
If I did 287W (or 302W NP) in the basement for 20 minutes, I’d be crawling back up the stairs and my HR would be a damn sight higher than 153bpm ave.
The NP up that climb yesterday, which I really did think/believe I was taking “easy”, would give an FTP of 287W (test on Monday was 281W)…but I reckon there’s much more in the tank.
I’ve a 25TT on Saturday, which is the true FTP in the TT position test.
There are a few places where you have to sit up and hold the brakes, district by-laws about entering roundabouts etc etc.
My top-end power is absolutely garbage - in the ramp-tests, I find it incredibly hard to get to 400W, I even find doing 400W for a normal minute incredibly tough.
But, I can comfortably do 325-350W for five minutes up some local climbs, multiple times.
I also find holding 220-240W for long periods of time (2-4 hours) not unreasonably hard.
However…using those muscles at low cadence definitely led to some “butt stabbing” pain on the steps yesterday.
As my descending is super-poor, I don’t get to relax after The Struggle, then it’s TT mode back to Glenridding (that part is really enjoyable!)
Paul Savage lives round the corner from me. He’s a superb runner and a very good biker (handy swimmer too I think ). He’s been putting in some big bikes and did 225km yesterday with 2500m or something like that.
He coaches Manc Tri
My point was only that riding very hard above threshold probably isn’t great in a triathlon. But you’ve qualified it and I agree with you that if it truly feels easy and you know from past performances that’s well within limits then that experience is way more important than what numbers say you should/shouldn’t do.
No Pollyanne Veazey-French - her times and female course record are astonishingly quick!
For you @jeffb - what happened to your run in 2018? Seems way off your other times?
Just looking at the past decades results - I see Fogarty has taken a part a few times before.
Interesting to see how the names and positions change over time…
…also, to the people running under 80 minutes - HOW!!!
)
). He’s been putting in some big bikes and did 225km yesterday with 2500m or something like that.
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