Hruška: Tour de l'Ain - Stage 1
Cycling brethren,
Hope you are all well. Today I finished stage one of cyclosportif Tour de l'Ain....4 day stage race on same course as professional race.
http://www.tourdelain.com/le-tour-de-lain-cyclosportif/parcours
(In France, near Lyon)
This is the culmination of my season, and totally new territory. I have done shorter stage races and very long one-day events, but never 4 long days in a row.
About 250 started today, mix of one-day riders and 4-day riders. Weather good - hot!...and very windy in some places. 138km, profile mostly flat but a gut-buster 7km climb near the end. Started extremely fast - approx 45kph in first 30 minutes! Settled a bit and I let myself go off from fastest lead group to next gruppeto. Turned into a group of 50-60 and motored pretty well....38km first hour and stayed on 35-36kph through 100km. Climb blew everything apart, and I finished ok in a smaller group....4:10 or so which was about 33kph (very windy finish!).
I have not seen results yet, but I imagine I am mid to lower overall, we'll see on age class. This is ok - my goal was to survive the day and not work too hard. I don't know how my body will react to the 4 days, and I definitely don't want to over-fatigue early. Plus the hardest days are thurs and fri - I need something left.
Observations......great to precede on same roads as pro race. Great organization and on-road security (though roads are not closed). Plus all kinds of people out cheering! The french are great for that and I appreciate them....we went through a couple towns where hundreds out waiting for later but still cheering the amateurs - nice! Sitting in a large peloton, like Tour de France, is strange and hard work. You go along so fast and sometimes hardly notice.....and believe it or not it can be very monotonous going along for 2-3 hours this way. You can easily let your mind drift but you must be concentrating all the time....very little mental rest which adds to body fatigue. I thought I did ok - climbing hard after 100km was difficult but I was not too disappointed. Some small leg cramps but nothing bad.
Resting is now the work....recovery and prep for tomorrow. Stage tomorrow is pan flat and another 138km...should be fast and hectic again from the start, and rain is forecast so I expect a tough first hour.
Bike is great - thanks Dlouhan!...for those of you not familiar, Dlouhan at 9395 Bikes in Prague is the best mechanic in the history of the world.
Til tomorrow,
Mark
Hope you are all well. Today I finished stage one of cyclosportif Tour de l'Ain....4 day stage race on same course as professional race.
(In France, near Lyon)
This is the culmination of my season, and totally new territory. I have done shorter stage races and very long one-day events, but never 4 long days in a row.
About 250 started today, mix of one-day riders and 4-day riders. Weather good - hot!...and very windy in some places. 138km, profile mostly flat but a gut-buster 7km climb near the end. Started extremely fast - approx 45kph in first 30 minutes! Settled a bit and I let myself go off from fastest lead group to next gruppeto. Turned into a group of 50-60 and motored pretty well....38km first hour and stayed on 35-36kph through 100km. Climb blew everything apart, and I finished ok in a smaller group....4:10 or so which was about 33kph (very windy finish!).
I have not seen results yet, but I imagine I am mid to lower overall, we'll see on age class. This is ok - my goal was to survive the day and not work too hard. I don't know how my body will react to the 4 days, and I definitely don't want to over-fatigue early. Plus the hardest days are thurs and fri - I need something left.
Observations......great to precede on same roads as pro race. Great organization and on-road security (though roads are not closed). Plus all kinds of people out cheering! The french are great for that and I appreciate them....we went through a couple towns where hundreds out waiting for later but still cheering the amateurs - nice! Sitting in a large peloton, like Tour de France, is strange and hard work. You go along so fast and sometimes hardly notice.....and believe it or not it can be very monotonous going along for 2-3 hours this way. You can easily let your mind drift but you must be concentrating all the time....very little mental rest which adds to body fatigue. I thought I did ok - climbing hard after 100km was difficult but I was not too disappointed. Some small leg cramps but nothing bad.
Resting is now the work....recovery and prep for tomorrow. Stage tomorrow is pan flat and another 138km...should be fast and hectic again from the start, and rain is forecast so I expect a tough first hour.
Bike is great - thanks Dlouhan!...for those of you not familiar, Dlouhan at 9395 Bikes in Prague is the best mechanic in the history of the world.
Til tomorrow,
Mark
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