I hinted somewhere on another thread that I was thinking about one more Stoopid Arbitrary Goal for 2022. I was intending on posting an announcement a few weeks ago, but work got super stressful and was seriously thinking of just parking it as simply a stupid idea.
Just had an enforced 3 day training break due to work travel and figured I’d see how I felt today and if feeling good I’d get after it. It’ll probably do me good to have some tough training to focus on and if not I can always dial down the intensity or insert a rest day - benefits of a totally arbitrary goal I guess Order is chosen purely on available training time on given days with some attempt to not have too many brutal rides back to back.
Looking forward to seeing how I get on with this. I reserve the right to change the ride orders if needed due to available time and / or fatigue.
The plan: ride all ProRides as a 14 day stage race.
The route:
26/11/22 Day 1 Tour of Norway 1 + Giro d’Italia 1 (2 hr 6 min)
27/11/22 Day 2 Hammer Chase 1 (1 hr 10 min)
28/11/22 Day 3 Ride London 1 (1 hr 14 min)
29/11/22 Day 4 Giro d’Italia Donne 1 (2 hr 10 min)
30/11/22 Day 5 Hammer Climb 1 (2 hr 10 min)
1/12/22 Day 6 Strade Bianchi 1 (1 hr 49 min)
2/12/22 Day 7 Mt. Ventoux Dénivéle Challenge 1 (2 hr 13 min)
3/12/22 Day 8 Tour Down Under 2 (1 hr 29 min)
4/12/22 Day 9 Tour of Norway 2 (1 hr)
5/12/22 Day 10 UAE Tour 1 (1 hr 3 min)
6/12/22 Day 11 Tour Down Under 3 (2 hr 6 min)
7/12/22 Day 12 Tour Down Under 1 (1 hr 43 min)
8/12/22 Day 13 Tour Down Under 4 + UAE Tour 2 (1 hr 30 min)
9/12/22 Day 14 Tour de Suisse 1 (1 hr 38 min)
Day 1 is done and remembered a few minutes into the time trial of Giro d’Italia 1 why I’ve only one this ride once, a touch over a year ago!
To set the tone, I rode ISLAGIATT on Tuesday before the 3 day break.
Really should have done this before Mt Ventoux was released…
This looks like something I like to try but I just started my ToS 2013 yesterday. But I will file this away for future reference, after I finish all the past ToS events.
Day 2 Hammer Chase is done. Felt like a really bad idea about half way through the warm up but soon settled done. Going to be interesting to see how this feels as the days progress.
Love the sound of your detraining plan @Glen.Coutts definitely something I need to get better at.
It’s no joke! I’ve done it a few times and every damn time it gets easier and easier. I’m up to nearly 95 kg atm so should have plenty of storage for the winter ahead.
Ventoux’s ProRide should feel relatively easy, after you have conquered Hammer Climb. I rode them both earlier this month (part of four Pro Rides in 8 days) and found the first hour of Hammer Climb to be more draining than Ventoux’s 20 minute threshold finish. I suggest higher than normal cadence for Hammer Climb during the surges of that first hour. You don’t want to burn out your legs early, with so much fun planned for the remaining days!
Day 3 Ride London 1 done. Was nice to have some longer gentler bits today after the last 2 stages - felt easier and helps ease me into the next few stages.
Trying to plan some recovery time and get a few saunas in during the rest of the tour
Order is chosen purely on available training time on given days with some attempt to not have too many brutal rides back to back.
