In my desperate effort to prepare for the l'Etape du Tour I cycled another organised bike tour in the nearby Sauerland, a low mountain range rising to not more than 840 meters above sea level. The route covered 155km and climbed around 1,800 meters of height difference which sounds to be a proper training for Mt Ventoux.
After 140km I imagined myself to be at the foot of Mt Ventoux - which accords to next Monday's race. And I have to admit I don't believe that I will be able to finish this race. I took another view at the elimination rules: They are rather challenging. One has to stick to an average speed of more than 20km/h to beat the sweeping up bus. At the Maratona dles Dolomites I managed an average speed of 17.7km/h ...
First feeding station will be at 76km! It's not going to be a day for beginners... Anyway I won't have time for a comfy lunch. There are two nicely called "Elimination Zones". Zone 1 demands to have done 113km within 5:30 hrs, Zone 2 says 149km within 7:20 hrs. And there are some hills in between. Oh folks, it is going to be a tough day ...
Hi Uli
ReplyDeleteI personally have no doubt that you will manage to make it :-)
So good luck and have a lot of fun...
Many greetings
Heike