SOFTWARE TEST #2 - GARMIN CONNECT

MY NAME IS...

Crondall Hill reps in the rain..with the added bonus of a "support car"!

SOFTWARE TEST #1 - STRAVA

When it comes to the actual 100 Climbs, I will upload the data from each climb to this Blog, as a record of completion. It appears there are a number of ways to do this so I'm going to experiment with a few and see which work best for my purpose - particularly from the point of ease of (repeated) use. The above is taken from this morning's training ride and uses the increasingly popular Strava software app. By the way, whilst it's always nice to be at the top of a 'leader board' (it's been a while!), I'm not convinced the majority of the 68 riders checked on this fairly straightforward hill were trying that hard (or even knew they were on it!).

4 WEEKS TO GO...

…and a few more things are starting to fall in to place or build momentum: eg. equipment, nutrition strategies, overnight stopping points and most importantly, training.

Several times recently, I’ve been asked the question: “ So how do you train for this?” With the collection of colds and minor ailments I’ve been putting up with the past few months, I’ve been sorely tempted to quote the old Irish joke of “well, I wouldn’t start from here!” given the planned training time and sessions that have gone by the wayside. Nevertheless, regarding my projected fitness level, there’s a clear difference between not quite being in 100% condition and seriously underprepared - so I’m going ahead with the planned 18^th May start date.

For those that are interested in such matters, I’m building a ‘base’ with 3-4 aerobic endurance rides a week, interspersed on alternate days with interval training sessions – the latter being held on a variety of local hills which take between 1 and 7 minutes to climb at close to maximum sustainable power. The aerobic endurance rides are 75-90 minutes duration. Ideally these sessions should occasionally be 3-4 hours in length but lower back gremlins have prevented me from doing those kinds of rides for more than 10 years now. Fortunately, I can still get most of the training effects that I need from the shorter rides.

I’ve cut back on gym-based strength training to allow a small drop in upper body mass and improve my power to weight ratio. Although that upper body strength (and core function) is essential when aiming to ride up 25-30% inclines, I’m hoping the residual conditioning from the last few years of training - mainly as a track sprinter at Masters level - will stand me in good stead. It’s all relative though as I’m dropping from 77kg (in January) to a projected 72kg in May along with a small but significant drop in body fat of 12% to 8-9%.

The biggest challenge from a training perspective, however, is mimicking and preparing for the specificity of the cumulative fatigue. Not just the multiple hill efforts (up to 12 in any one day) but also the daily/overnight recovery process.

As much as some of the particularly ‘savage’ climbs instill an uneasy ‘fear factor’, I believe the biggest hurdle to overcome will be the daily recovery requirements and in some ways that can’t be reproduced until the 'event' itself.

I am planning two dress rehearsals over the next two weeks of one half day of 5 climbs and one full day of 10 climbs to test out my current physical level as well as practice logistics. This will include driving stints in between climbs and evaluating the turnaround time of parking, unloading, warming up etc.

All of which will be important fact finding missions but I’m very much aware that come Day 3 or 4 onwards of the route itself, I’ll be going into the unknown!

ROUTE AND START DATE NOW CONFIRMED!

After much experimentation, the route and climbs can now be viewed here. There's also a link near the top right of the screen.

It's taken a while because although the original route plan was completed 6 weeks ago, it was done using software that has no direct web application, therefore I had to try alternatives.

The 'best fit' seemed to be Google Maps but it has not been as easy to work with as I had hoped - the map is 'zoomable' and the markers are accurate but a larger, less cluttered graphic would be better.

If anyone has any suggestions (even a suitable alternative), I am all ears.

I can now confirm that I will start the 100 Climbs on the morning of Friday 18th May at Streatley Hill near Reading with the goal of finishing on Swains Lane in the centre of London on Wednesday 30th May. 13 Days.