Ettape Du Tour Training

The last edition of Cycling Pro carries an account of what to expect in the etape. They had 2 columnists ride the event. By all accounts, dozens of riders dismounted during the climbs and walked. By all accounts, mechanics will also check out your bike and tune it up for free.

UncleFred said:

I've registered for a place on the 2006 Etappe Du Tour, and am trying to come up with a suitable training regime.

First of all, I live in the British Virgin Islands, so my longest flat road is about 10 miles long from the Capital to the West End of the Island so I can get a 20 mile lap from this. Going from the capital to the other end of the Island there are 4 hills of varying gradients, not very long but steep, they tend to have either a shallow climb and steep descent or vice versa, this route is also 20 miles round trip.

Apart from that the rest of the island is basically steep climbs up to about 1500-1700 feet, really steep, although not very long. There a nice ride from Sea Level at the East End up a long hill of varying degrees of steepness (some parts are a struggle on a MTB) to the highest point of Island at 1700 feet, the total distance is again about 10Miles with a couple of short descents in there as well.

Daylight hours are in the winter 6.30am to about 5.30pm, the drivers are crazy and the roads (not the 2 flat roads) are only rideable on an MTB, very bad surfaces which would kill a roadbike, there is one Really steep hill that you could get a road bike up but it has a lot of blind switch back corners and I really don't want to risk getting clipped from behind, plus the drivers are so impatient it's unreal.

I have a hardtail Cannondale M300 MTB and a Trek 2100 Roadbike (triple), access to a Gym but no trainer. I also work M-F 8.30-5.00 so midweek riding in the winter realistically is limited to about an hour.

I started racing this year and have been finishing Mid pack most races, my first 20 mile time trial took 60.44, I'm 6ft 2 and 200 (ish) pounds, but big build not fat. The racing season here starts again in February, most races are on road bikes, on the flat parts or the island, so time trials and circuit races.

My goal is to finish the Etappe with a respectable time, but even a finish would be good for me. The course hasn't been released yet but from looking at previous courses I think I can expect lots of long climbs.

So my question is does anybody have any suggestions for an appropriate training regime from Now until July......

Hi,

check out this site for some training tips

http://www.etape.org.uk/

I managed to do it in 2004, on my first year cycling since being a kid. I started in January, doing up to 80 miles by April, training at least twice a week. It was a struggle to get enough time to train, but i managed a highly intense session towards the end stopping a week before the event. I managed it in 12 hours, near the back but not bad considering i had only been in training for 6 months.
I missed out last year but have managed to get a place for next year, so now the serious training starts. I am planning at training 3 times a week, 20, 20 and 40 miles through the winter. then stepping it up to longer distances, this was the main concern in 2004, to stay the distance. I train on quite big hills, my circuit has 2 15% climbs (2 miles)in it. I also do a slow 6% - 8 miles climb. I want to sprint up Alpe D'heuz and hope to get a silver medal. Let me know how you get on !! 🙂