As we approach the final week of our build up towards our epic trip to Cameron, let me share some of my reflections, lessons and experience from hill climbing in Ampang and the recent use of the power meter in my preparation for this event.
We have probably one or at most two more hill workouts left before our ascent next weekend. For those that have been training regularly, I’d suggest doing a brick workout if u can as a last intensive workout. This brick session would comprise an endurance ride with a hill workout, in so simulating Day 2 and also allowing u to be sufficiently fatigued to test your hill climbing rhythm. If however, you don’t feel up to it or have not been sufficiently conditioned or have left training to the last minute or not at all, no fret, just concentrate on finding a hill climbing rhythm should be enough. So hit Mt Faber or Telok Blangah hill and do a few loops just to find this rhythm. The trip next week is NOT a race, so there is no urgency to get yourself super fit or in top form. Find your climbing rhythm, you will find the trip pretty enjoyable liao. All things else, posture, cleats, nutrition, braking, bike handling etc…on job training can la.
I would seriously suggest to end most of the strenuous training by end of this week and taper your mileage next week to recover. The prep over the last few weeks would have caused your fitness to increase but also cause u to be more fatigued. So by tapering, you will lose a bit of fitness, but good news is, if u have been regular with your training, not to worry too much because the recovery of fatigue will more than outpace your loss in fitness. So still continue to ride next week but lessen duration and intensity. My plan is to ride Tuesday and Wednesday but recovery pace only. Recovery pace is actually zone 1 or 2 based on power or heart rate fyi.
Lessons I learnt. Most we have learnt together already. May be quite technical, but if u understand the concepts, I’m pretty sure it will help u:
1. Find your rhythm. Find your pace for climbing hills. This does not mean climbing at a particular speed. It actually means keeping the power used to climb as constant as possible. Most of us will probably not have the experience of the type of hill climbing to be expected. Singapore does not have the length of climbs that these places provide. Imagine inner loop of mount faber 3-5 x as long but with no reprieve of the uphill..ie no gradual flattening out in the uphill segment like the inner loop, just up up up. So its important to find a rhythm or pace that can carry u up..er,... indefinitely
a. Power=Force applied on pedal x Cadence
b. Have a sense of the power you need to sustain climbing indefinitely. For those with a power meter, this is generally at your FTP or preferably less. If you apply more Force, the Cadence need to be lower, or vice versa, to maintain your Power constant.
c. If you are overweight or don’t have a FTP of 4W/kg, throw cadence out the window. Your weight will obligate u to apply a minimum Force on the pedals when climbing anyway, increasing your Cadence will unnecessarily bring your Power output beyond your FTP and make u go into oxygen deficit. So slow cadence is alright when climbing hills for the overweight cyclist.
2. Avoid surges. Surging means varying your power output by suddenly increasing your power output and then reducing it just as suddenly. This can occur if u are focused on maintaining speed or trying to overtake. Surging zaps energy and makes you fatigue very quickly.
3. Conserve, conserve, conserve. Cycle smart, save as much energy as u can. As this is not a race, no need to burn any matches. Completion takes priority rather than speed.
a. Coast on the downhill. Remember that for every extra 1km/h you achieve by peddling exponentially increases your power used.
b. Let the terrain do the work.
Last one or two workouts to try these strategies out. I have found out after all these weeks that actually these may be enough to get you through even with just minimal training. So there is hope yet haha.
I am looking forward to the trip next week. All the preparation can never ever make you completely prepared in such trips. Safety comes first. So take it easy guys, relax and enjoy. So don’t care whether ride, take bus or what la, just gonna enjoy. I’m glad so many of our group are going up on this trip and I am sure we will have a great time like in KL.
Huat ah!
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