Workout for the Alps
Focus on tempo to climb at your best
Throughout the summer, many of us undertake a major cycling challenge, often inspired by watching some amazing bike racers tackle the big mountains in the Tour de France. The mountains inspire and scare us at the same time – something of the unknown perhaps and the knowing that no matter what, the effort is long and sustained. What is it like to ride a big mountain and how would you train for it?
Most of us don’t have the luck of living near a long climb that can take as long as an hour to get up. For the most part, we ride flat to rolling terrain with the odd longer climb mixed into our training. On our group rides, the efforts will be up and down: five minutes really hard up a short kicker followed by a lull in the pace as everyone regroups, and then another burst of speed. If you head up a climb that takes longer than an hour though, this approach to riding will have you burning your legs up on the lower slopes.
Riding a large climb is not done at the upper ends of our power ranges with which we all seem obsessed. Climbing, particularly if you are doing a long day like something you would find in the Tour or at the Haute Routes, is done at your tempo ability. Everyone thinks that this means it is easy. But ride there for an hour, with lots of muscle tension on an unrelenting grade, and you will soon change your mind.
If you are planning on doing some rides this summer that take in mountains, you will want to be sure that you have been working on making your tempo ability as strong as possible. Essentially, the stronger your tempo ability, the faster you will be able to ride up the hills. You’ll even manage the workload on your local group ride better as tempo work has value beyond pedalling uphill. See “Tempo Workout” for a session that will improve your mid-range.
Before you ride the mountains, try to find a good hill to train for the climbs. It is worth making the effort four to six weeks from your big ride to travel to a larger hill once a week. You might even want to make a weekend trip to a place with some real climbing.
Remember, your pacing during your big climb is key. If you overcook your legs early on, there will be nowhere to recover. It isn’t like a flatter ride in which you can take a break. The gradient will not let you get your pace back. Also, make sure that you have adequate gearing so that you don’t end up riding at 50 r.p.m. for an hour at a time. That cadence just makes things way harder than they need to be. Get inspired by the Tour de France this summer and tackle some major climbs. Working on your tempo ability will make sure you are ready and improve your riding all around.
“Riding a large climb is not done at the upper ends of our power ranges with which we all seem obsessed.”