I'm just back from my first ever trip to real mountains, in Vercors, France - what you might term pre-Alps. We did 5 days of riding - fairly easy first and last days, two 3000+m days, and a flat 100km "rest" day in 35 degree heat.
Things I learned
If you have a long day planned, take it easy. Don't do a 13km 10% climb at 170 bpm if you have more climbing to do after it. I had to walk 200 yards while I ate all the food I had on me on a climb later that day.
Eat and drink regularly. I know everyone says this, but it is so much harder to do than to say. I found that grinding it out at 50 rpm (34/28 at about 6 kph) on a climb I was able to drink (just about), but eating was extremely difficult. Prep food that you can unwrap and eat.
Try to enjoy the climbs - getting into your own rhythm and pacing yourself gives you much more time to look at the sights than murdering yourself trying to keep up with someone else.
Descending is absolutely bleeding amazing. If you've only cycled in the UK, get thee to some real mountains and do some 20 km descents. I was regularly hitting 80 km/h and I think I was careful.
Climbing a lot is hard, but manageable. I was saying to Phil, our guide, that I would fall over if we did a similar ride on day 3 as we did on day 2, but I paced myself and got through. Each day my legs were complaining, but they did their job.
Heat is my worst enemy. On the 35 degree flat day I felt so much worse than on the other days. I managed to get through it, but I felt awful. I'm not sure what I can do to alleviate that. Are those string vest undershirts a help?
Anyway, I just wanted to boast
J
Things I learned
If you have a long day planned, take it easy. Don't do a 13km 10% climb at 170 bpm if you have more climbing to do after it. I had to walk 200 yards while I ate all the food I had on me on a climb later that day.
Eat and drink regularly. I know everyone says this, but it is so much harder to do than to say. I found that grinding it out at 50 rpm (34/28 at about 6 kph) on a climb I was able to drink (just about), but eating was extremely difficult. Prep food that you can unwrap and eat.
Try to enjoy the climbs - getting into your own rhythm and pacing yourself gives you much more time to look at the sights than murdering yourself trying to keep up with someone else.
Descending is absolutely bleeding amazing. If you've only cycled in the UK, get thee to some real mountains and do some 20 km descents. I was regularly hitting 80 km/h and I think I was careful.
Climbing a lot is hard, but manageable. I was saying to Phil, our guide, that I would fall over if we did a similar ride on day 3 as we did on day 2, but I paced myself and got through. Each day my legs were complaining, but they did their job.
Heat is my worst enemy. On the 35 degree flat day I felt so much worse than on the other days. I managed to get through it, but I felt awful. I'm not sure what I can do to alleviate that. Are those string vest undershirts a help?
Anyway, I just wanted to boast
J
