Up the Passo Giau
Yesterday1 I began my 'journey' of 5000 miles in 2018 for Bloodwise by taking two friends for a gentle ride from Forest Hill in South London to the Thames barrier via the Cutty Sark and the riverside path. Neither of them had cycled in London for some years and they were concerned about the traffic in our busy city. The plan had been to set off at about 10:30am but the rain intervened and we had our coffee stop before the ride even started. However, by 12:15pm the water had stopped falling from the sky and after adjusting saddle heights for my two companions we were off.
At just over 15 miles it was long enough for my friends to get the feel of riding again but not so far as to get too cold or wet. The rain started again on the way back but we had been out and that felt good.
Please join me on my journey at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stephenmaxted2018 and follow me on Strava https://www.strava.com/athletes/4647248
Today2 was a very different story. I was up early because my wife was back at school for a training day. So, it was time to set up the turbo trainer again -fancy having to put it away just because the back bedroom was needed for family staying over the New Year - but sadly, with winds gusting at 40mph plus, it was no time to be on the open road. So, once set up, my Elite Turbo Muin became the means (by video) of climbing the Passo Giau under the guidance of GCN's Simon Richardson.
Strava logged my ride this morning as 10.2 miles, that was the climb plus some cooling down afterwards. https://www.strava.com/activities/1338514739/analysis
In the real world the stats are
Passo Giau Profile:
- Starting elevation: 1314 m
- Final elevation: 2236 m
- Length of ascent: 9.9 km
- Elevation gain: 922 m
- Average gradient: 9.3 %
- Max. gradient: 15 %
It was a great workout. Sweet Spot and sprint intervals for just over 40 minutes. The term 'sweet spot' refers to an intensity of training that is hard enough to elicit substantial physiological benefit but not so hard as to be unsustainable. It lies at around 90 percent of threshold power.
My FTP3 when I last did a test in November was 230 watts. That is relatively low but I am pleased to be back at that level after my accident a year ago.
Simon's guided ride meant riding for blocks of 4 minutes at 80 to 90% of FTP with each block followed by a 30 second sprint. In my case, the sprints this morning, meant reaching around 400 watts by increasing the speed at which I was pedalling from approx 80 rpm to just over 100 rpm.
I am committed to riding to raise money for the important work undertaken by Bloodwise to support patients with blood cancers and medical research to find cures and treatments.
Please will you support me in my efforts by making a gift at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stephenmaxted2018
During 2018 I will be riding in some of the most challenging one-day cycle events including L'Etape du Tour and hopefully the Fred Whitton Challenge. This morning's turbo trainer session was part of my preparation for events such as these.
1 Tuesday 2nd January
2 Wednesday 3rd January
3Functional Threshold Power, or FTP, is the maximum average power you can hold for one hour.
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