At the end of September, I want to cycle to Ventoux and the Club de Cingles. To prepare, I am following the Mountain Fondo training plan. So far, so good. The day before yesterday, I completed the Half Monty Ramp Test and, compared to the FF 4DP, my FTP value increased from 231W to 238W and my MAP from 271W to 327W – a +56W MAP increase.
And two days later, Nine Hammers is done with the new wattage values?!?!?! What kind of madman comes up with something like that???
So today I completed Nine Hammers.
Before the first hammer: Ok. Let’s see how we’re doing at hammer 5. Then we’re halfway there.
After the first hammer: Oh God. How am I supposed to get to hammer 5?
Okay. Let’s just take it one hammer at a time.
…
After the third hammer: Okay, I’ve made it this far. Now recover. Then a quiet hammer 4 at the threshold and then recover again.
What recovery? My thighs are burning! Sweat is pouring down.
Hammer 5 is torture. What’s with these cadence changes? But once 5 is over, I only have hammer 6 left and then it’ll be a little less stressful again. Haha! Hammer 7 is 3 minutes at threshold. The last 60 seconds are incredibly hard. Before Hammer 8, I motivate myself again and try to maintain the cadence. But I can’t keep up with the cadence changes anymore. I just grit my teeth and push through. I’m afraid of Hammer 9. But I don’t want to give up. Then I’d have to do Nine Hammers again! Never again!!! The ninth hammer is the gateway to hell. Only three minutes, but the intensity increases after every minute. I manage the first minute. I just grit my teeth and get through the second minute. I pedal standing up in the third minute. The cadence gets lower and lower, the agony greater and greater. But with my last ounce of strength and a cadence of 40, I reach the end. The last hammer really does open the gates of hell.
Yep!
Teaches you that:
Pain is momentary
Pain is relative
You can take much more than you think
Well done soldier 
Wow - that is impressive progress.
Love your post ride description!
I was at Mont Ventoux two years ago. My brother and I rented racing bikes and cycled up there from Bedoin.
It was amazing. This mountain is breathtaking. The climb is challenging, it’s like meditation, it’s philosophical.
We had trained a little beforehand, but we weren’t familiar with mountains as cyclists. Where we live, it’s flat. We’re more likely to find a dyke than a hill.
But with a little preparation and fitness, you can conquer Ventoux.
This time, however, we want to climb it three times and join the Club de Cingles. That requires more effort.
So we’ve intensified our training. But not in a particularly well-thought-out way. In winter, I rode a simple spinning bike and, from spring onwards, I did a lot of road and gravel riding. A little bit of interval training too.
Three months ago, I stupidly broke three ribs. Suddenly I had a problem. I was running out of time to train. Cycling outdoor was impossible.
So I bought a smart trainer and started testing training platforms as soon as the pain allowed.
I liked Wahoo Systm best. Probably because of the Sufferland attitude and the great videos.
There’s no better place to suffer than Mont Ventoux. And Sufferlandia is perfect if you want to enjoy the suffering. 
I immediately realised how hard it is here when I failed on my first attempt at 4DP.
Anybody listening, Wahoo? 
I digress. That’s why I changed the thread title. 
And maybe this will be interesting for someone else who wants to climb Ventoux.
So I decided that Systm would take me to the Club de Cinglés via Ventoux. Finding the right training plan was easy. It could only be Mountain Fondo. All I had to do was complete the 4DP and I was ready to go.
I had never done a performance test like the 4DP before. I once did a ramp test with Trainerroad, but the app crashed at the end. I could only estimate my FTP. I didn’t even know what MAP was. So, before the first 4DP, I assumed 235W FTP (optimism) and 287W MAP (calculated?!?) and wanted to pace myself accordingly in the test. A very serious mistake. After the MAP interval, I was completely exhausted. A week later, during my second 4DP attempt, I was wiser and listened to my body. After the test, I was just as exhausted as after Nine Hammers, but Systm rewarded me with my 4DP profile.
Cool, I was an attacker with too low a MAP value.
NM: 950W AC: 418W MAP: 271W FTP: 231W
Systm said: I first have to increase the MAP if I want to increase the FTP.
I clearly achieved that 8 weeks later, as the ramp test showed. MAP: +56W FTP: +9W
The Mountain Fondo Plan works perfectly for me. Most workouts last less than an hour. That’s okay indoor. Anything longer than that, I do outdoor.
I certainly wouldn’t have made such good progress with for instance Swift races. I’m now in the last three weeks of the training plan and I’m almost certain that I’ll be able to conquer the Cinglés and that I won’t suffer as much on my third attempt at Ventoux as I did at the ninth hammer.
I‘m sharing your emotions about Mont Ventoux. It‘s a very special climb and environment. When I did it, I wasn’t prepared enough and had great suffering. I thought I can go again this year, but life brought other challenges to me. But I hope my second visit will come next year.
Who?
Thank you for sharing your progress Nansen, really fun to see what you’ve done. Ventoux is one of the climbs I have yet to do, maybe someday.
Congrats on your accomplishments and best of luck on your next adventure!
-Michael
PS, one of my Full Frontals I had to repeat 3x in the week as I kept failing on the MAP effort, it’s very hard to pace right.
I’ll take that as a No.
yeah nah mate, i’m just trolling as I am here 
I’m almost at the end of the training plan now. I’ve got 11 weeks behind me and I can tell that this training is having an effect. I might do another FF next week. For purely scientific reasons, of course.
Or now I’m looking forward to the rest week. 
Yes, of course my legs are tired. But I’m also a little stressed because I had to somehow fit the training into my family and work life.
I’ve even had headaches the last few days. I assume that tension in my neck was the cause. I probably should have done the yoga exercises after all. 
Oh well. In three weeks, we’re heading to Bedoin to tackle Mont Ventoux three times.
This might be interesting for anyone who wants to try the Club de Cingles (4400 m, 136 km) at some point:
I configured the Mountain Fondo Plan as follows:
- Moderate (5-9 hours/week)
- 3:1 (3 hard weeks, 1 rest week)
- Strength training level 2 or 3, yoga beginner and mental training.
Strength training is important – especially core training. Nobody wants to climb Mont Ventoux three times and suffer from back pain on top of that!
I had never done yoga before, but it’s fun, even though I have to admit that I don’t always stick to the plan.
I don’t need the mental training and deleted it at some point.
I think I’ve always done mental things like breaking down an effort into stages. But the mental training sessions are good for falling asleep.
Since we want to climb Mont Ventoux three times and I’ll be on the road for at least 8 hours, I’m going to do some endurance training a few more times. That means cycling for at least 5 hours each time to get my body, back and bum used to the time and nutrition.
Hopefully, I’ll know in 4 weeks at the latest whether it’s helpful.
Ventoux hey? Three times hey? 4400 metres hey? This one time… (but enough about me).
Way to get after your training and your goals! Make sure you taper well, and trust in the plan. I have no doubt you will absolutely
If I had the means or the time I would definitely want to try that. But since I don’t, I will live vicariously through your attempt.
Can’t wait for you to report back with a full (and hopefully lengthy) report of your successful (postive vibes!) attempt!
As @Glen.Coutts said, you will undoubtably CRUSH IT. 
I am not a climber at all, but I loved every minute of it. Conditions were great on the top: little wind, sunshine. Suffered the most when climbing Malaucène in the scortching midday heat.
I will be happy to report back on whether we made it and what it was like to cycle up Mont Ventoux three times.
Today, I repeated the FF to conclude the Mountain Fondo Plan. I wanted to know what the plan had achieved overall.
I have to say: I had forgotten how hard the FF is. After the 5-minute MAP interval, I was completely exhausted and really thought I wouldn’t be able to do the FTP interval. I was correspondingly more cautious with my pacing, but the result should be about right. After completing the test, however, I was completely spent. My breath was racing, my legs were shaking. Holy moly!
After 12 weeks of the Mountain Fondo Plan, the results are now in:
NM: 961W (+11W), AC: 444W (+26W), MAP: 329W (+58W), FTP: 242W (+11W)
Wow. 3.0W/kg – not bad for a 53-year-old.
But: During the first FF, Wahoo classified me as an attacker. Now I’m a pursuiter with diesel-like power. That’s kind of true, I guess. But attacker sounds cooler.
It was challenging to stick to this Mountain Fondo Plan. The cycling workouts are very varied.
Without Wahoo, I would never have trained my cadence. Now I no longer hop like a rabbit over cobblestones even at a cadence >130.
The intervals during the workouts are demanding. Power and cadence are constantly changing. Which, of course, always contributes to the suffering. Add to that the explanatory texts that explain what each effort is good for. Super.
Nine Hammers will always remain in my memory. Maybe I’ll even do it again.
The icing on the cake is the videos and music. Is there actually a workout with the video of Matthieu van der Poel’s victory at the 2019 Amstel Gold Race? Those last 5 or 6 kilometres! https://youtu.be/Yi4opDanurU?si=94in9OPhO8cC5FU9 Or avideo of the final stage of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes? When Kasia Niewiadoma won the Tour with a lead of just four seconds? How she struggled up Alpe d’Huez to save her narrow lead! She gave it her all. https://youtu.be/5MDdzJX2gPU?si=LCq0H7qRbvwEUUo_
Two races that showcase the passion and suffering of cycling like no other. Maybe Wahoo has something else up its sleeve? 
But I’m putting the smart trainer away in the corner until winter. I’m waiting for Ventoux now.
