How to train from standing start to 260km ride in two weeks?

[esvee]

Hello

Some brief background, I'm a decent amateur cyclist (or I was) but have largely been focussing on running this year and have only done 550km of riding, and due to work pressures and holidays have done basically nothing for two weeks now. I also now have Covid and don't expect to be able to train until the start of next week at the earliest.

All of this is a problem because on 2nd April I'm doing the Tour of Flanders sportive, the full fat version at 260km with c.2,250m of climbing and all the cobbles. I'm mildly petrified. I have done rides of this distance in the past but not with this amount of elevation and the cobbles.

I'm looking for advice on what I can do in those two weeks to give me the best chance of completing the event on the day. I have an indoor trainer and can probably give 2/3 hours on weekdays and have the w/e of 26/27 March free for long rides.

Conscious that even though my case of Covid has been mild I probably don't want to be doing high intensity efforts too early. If anyone can offer any advice about how I might structure training in the time I have (and whether any taper is advisable/necessary?) it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[T4tomo]

do a bit of turbo work and then ride 160km on 26th or 27th and hope for the best.....

 

[Dogtrousers]

I think you're going to have to rely on your innate fatigue resistance (which if you're lucky is high) and mental strength. I don't know if you're going to be able to make a huge amount of difference in terms of fitness in that time.

You'll be playing off two issues: Go too fast and you burn out your reserves too quickly, go too slow and you just make things worse for yourself because it takes longer ... and longer. So try to see if you can figure out what is the best sustainable level of exertion for you.

So one suggestion would be to do some experiments with a heart rate monitor to find out what your optimum long range sustainable heart rate should be and try to ride at or around that. Now, I know zip about the science of heart rate training so that might be cobblers, and I don't know how you'd go about it. But it's a thought.

Also test-run the food/drink that you'll be using.

The good news is that 2,250m of ascent in 260km is basically flat. So it's flat with some nasty little climbs thrown in. It's certainly not a climb-fest.

And use lots of chamois cream.

 

[Milkfloat]

If I were you I would start tapering, the ride is only a couple of week away.

In all seriousness, it is too late to meaningfully sort out your fitness, you will just have to rely on the fact that you have done rides like this in the past. I would do some gentle rides and just aim for time in the saddle to reacquaint your arse with it.

 

[matticus]

The good news is that 2,250m of ascent in 260km is basically flat. So it's flat with some nasty little climbs thrown in. It's certainly not a climb-fest.

I would disagree with "flat". It would be at least "fairly rolling", if they were spread out like in a typical Southern England route - and if most of the climbs are cobbled, then that's as hard as doing a load more elevation on top.. So, agreed, not a ton of climbing. But then I've done more than 500k on the bike this month, let alone this year, so that might be easy for me to say ... ;-)

I think it will be a hard day out - the 255km of Paris-Roubaix felt a long way, despite really being (almost) pan flat.

 

[Sittingduck]

Some brief background, I'm a decent amateur cyclist (or I was) but have largely been focussing on running this year and have only done 550km of riding, and due to work pressures and holidays have done basically nothing for two weeks now.

I think the answer depends on the specifics of the underlined bit. Exactly how decent and when did you stop - if it was literally just before the new year, maybe you haven't lost as much fitness as you may think.
Have to ask though, if you knew this was coming - why neglect riding and switch to running? Also the covid thing is bad luck and very difficult to give guidance as it may have affected you more than you realise - not sure I would fancy risking it tbh. Good luck though - oh and I agree with the above about elevation, if my decimal to imperial head conversions are legit then it's far from flat, the cobbles will exaggerate it, shirley...

 

[fossyant]

260km is a long way if you've not been riding anywhere near that distance. It's going to hurt, a lot!

 

[Dogtrousers]

I would disagree with "flat". It would be at least "fairly rolling", if they were spread out like in a typical Southern England route - and if most of the climbs are cobbled, then that's as hard as doing a load more elevation on top.. So, agreed, not a ton of climbing. But then I've done more than 500k on the bike this month, let alone this year, so that might be easy for me to say ... ;-)

I think it will be a hard day out - the 255km of Paris-Roubaix felt a long way, despite really being (almost) pan flat.

Yeah, "flat" was maybe a bit excessive. And I do realise I haven't factored in cobbles, which I've never experienced. But my point was that elevation shouldn't be the issue.

My personal view is that less than 1,000m per 100km or 1% overall is in the "flat" classification because, although I don't live anywhere particularly hilly, I have to try very hard to plan rides that are in this bracket.

if my decimal to imperial head conversions are legit

I make it 161 miles and 7,382 feet.

 

[MichaelO]

Yeah, "flat" was maybe a bit excessive. And I do realise I haven't factored in cobbles, which I've never experienced. But my point was that elevation shouldn't be the issue.

My personal view is that less than 1,000m per 100km or 1% overall is in the "flat" classification because, although I don't live anywhere particularly hilly, I have to try very hard to plan rides that are in this bracket.

I'd usually agree with the 1% argument...but even I know that most of that climbing is packed in the last half/third. The first ~75-100km is almost pan flat.

 

[MichaelO]

OP - switch to one of the shorter routes?

 

[matticus]

I'd usually agree with the 1% argument

If we keep anal-ysing this it will get pretty tedious ... so what I'll say it that YES! the 1% figure is quite a good benchmark, but i can't agree with such black/white distinctions. Clearly you can't take out a 10m climb and transform a hilly route into a flat one!
Right, sorry. I'll shut up about flatness now.

If you lot do ...

 

[All uphill]

Buy an ebike and a spare battery.

Good luck, and make sure you have an escape plan.

 

[si_c]

You can probably do it, but it will hurt. A lot. If you can pace yourself properly and eat plenty you might be ok. I'd suggest trying to do a 160km or 180km ride to check you can pace properly, if you can't do that distance, reconsider or do a shorter route on the day.

 

[HLaB]

If you've done the distance before @esvee you'll be fine, the half life of muscles is massive so you endurance won't have disappeared overnight. FWIW I did the Full Flanders back in 2013 and the first half is flat and all the climbing is in the 2nd part, so its rather lumpy then but the numbers of competitors means you are forced to walk up some of the cobbled climbs giving you a break. The 2nd half is the more enjoyable part which I've repeated several times including in 2018 when unknown to me I had cancer induced chronic fatigue (a catastrophic iron deficiency). If its doable in that state anyone can do it. The temperature is weird in Belgium I've did the long one when it was minus at the start and snowing at the end but the year later I did the medium one in near 20deg. Enjoy 👍

 

[ColinJ]

That is a 'Glass nearly full' attitude; I'll go with the 'Glass nearly empty'...!

I hope that I and the other naysayers are wrong, but I reckon it will be a difficult day out. And remember to take lights for the difficult night out to get to the finish...