Adrian Fitch's random rambling

Mark Cavendish – One Man, Two Jerseys

Adrian Fitch — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:59:32 +0000

Tour de France green jersey winner and World Champion Mark Cavendish looks back at his 2011 season.

Tour of Flanders Sportive 2012 Route

Adrian Fitch — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:46:22 +0000

This year’s Tour of Flanders sportive will follow quite a different route to pro peloton and tackle three fewer hills. As expected, the route is a little shorter at 244km as it doesn’t include the three finishing circuits. The organisers quite sensibly realised that the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg will be crowded enough without sending many of the 20,000 entrants on a second or third loop. The pros will do 13 different hills while we’ll do fourteen, however, we’ll miss the Nokereberg, Rekelberg and Hoogberg and instead do the Kappelleberg, Foreest, Berg Ten Houte and Knokteberg.

Here are the hills included in the 2012 Sportive:

Molenberg 118km
Berendries 138km
Valkenberg 143km
Koppenberg 177km
Steenbeekdries 179km
Taaienberg 181km
Eikenberg 186km
Kapelleberg 187km
Foreest 195km
Berg Ten Houte 201km
Kruisberg 212km
Knokteberg 220km
Oude Kwaremont 227km
Paterberg 231km

Compare these to the 17 hills on the 256km Pro route and you’ll see that we’ll be doing what appears to be a very different route:

Nokereberg 88km
Taaienberg 111km
Eikenberg 117km
Molenberg 133km
Rekelberg 148km
Berendries 153km
Valkenberg 158km
Oude Kwaremont 180km
Paterberg 184km
Koppenberg 191km
Steenbeekdries 194km
Kruisberg/Hotond 205km
Oude Kwaremont 217km
Paterberg 220km
Hoogberg/Hotond 227km
Oude Kwaremont 237km
Paterberg 240km

La Marmotte 2011 Video

Adrian Fitch — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:43:09 +0000

Here’s the official video from the 2011 Marmotte. It looks like far too much fun but also one of those epic, “must do” events. Perhaps 2013…

When to replace Mavic Open Pro rims

Adrian Fitch — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:57:50 +0000

This is why you replace Mavic Open Pro rims when their walls are worn to less than 1 mm.

If you’re lucky, it will simply be an inconvenient end to a ride. If you’re not, the consequences could be catastrophic. Losing a wheel in corner will either put you onto the ground or into a wall. At low speed it will only hurt, at high speed…

Walls on new Open Pro CD rims are 1.5 mm thick according to my fairly crude calipers. The way I ride, I find they need replacing after around 20,000 km. That’s a new set of rims every eighteen months or so. The Shimano 105 hubs they’re built on are still in great condition so my local bike shop will re-build them with new spokes. The last pair he made saw me through two Roubaix and two Flanders sportives plus hundreds of hours in lanes of Kent without needing to be trued once.

I love the idea of fast, light (and expensive) wheels but Open Pro CDs seem to suit the sportive rider perfectly. My dream wheels would probably be Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLs but I doubt I’d get anything close to the 100,000 km out of them that I’d need to justify the cost, whatever the speed increase.

Ambrosio Excellence rims seem to be a good alternative to Open Pros and retail at around the same price so it might be worth getting a pair made up to see how they ride.

Paris-Roubaix Challenge

Adrian Fitch — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:23:32 +0000

Here’s Rapha’s video from their Paris-Roubaix recce ride in early March 2011, ahead of the the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Challenge. Next year I’m riding the VC Roubaix sportive in June. Can’t wait…

No Muur for Tour of Flanders

Adrian Fitch — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:00:31 +0000

The 2012 Tour of Flanders will finish in Oudenaarde instead of Meerbeke near Ninove so the organisers have significantly redesigned the route. Not only is the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen out but so is the Bosberg and instead, the riders will do three circuits of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg with a little variety after each one. This should be fairly straightforward to organise for the pro race but I’m curious to see how the sportive plans to handle the circuits. It is likely to get quite crowded on the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg as both are quite narrow.

Paterberg by elchiquito used under license.

Here are the hills and cobbles from the official 2012 Elite Men Route Map:

Ronde van Vlaanderen ‘Hellingen’ 2012

Nokereberg 88km
Taaienberg 111km
Eikenberg 117km
Molenberg 133km
Rekelberg 148km
Berendries 153km
Valkenberg 158km
Oude Kwaremont 180km
Paterberg 184km
Koppenberg 191km
Steenbeekdries 194km
Kruisberg/Hotond 205km
Oude Kwaremont 217km
Paterberg 220km
Hoogberg/Hotond 227km
Oude Kwaremont 237km
Paterberg 240km

Ronde van Vlaanderen ‘Kasseien’ (cobbles) 2012

Huisepontweg 93km
Doorn 96km
Holleweg 119km
Ruiterstraat 121km
Kerkgate 124km
Jagerij 127km
Paddestraat 137km
Mariaborrestraat 193km
Donderij 196km

Lactate Threshold Test

Adrian Fitch — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:10:26 +0000

I’m about to start my next block of training so it’s time to do a new Lactate Threshold test. The last one I did was in December 2009 and I’m sure I’ve raised my LT since then.

How to do a Lactate Threshold test on a home trainer:

15min warm-up
10min hard
20min harder
10min warm-down
Average heart rate over the 20min section is a good estimate of LT

Here you can see that I warmed up steadily until I got to my old LT of 162bpm at 12 minutes and then slowly increased the intensity to a point where I felt it was the maximum I could sustain for the duration of the test (25:00-45:00). The last five minutes were tough but in the end I averaged 177bpm, 15 beats higher than my old level.

Joe Friel’s heart rate zones based on a LT of 177bpm:

Z1. 116-145 Recovery (60%-75%)
Z2. 146-158 Aerobic (76%-82%)
Z3. 159-165 Tempo (82%-85%)
Z4. 166-176 Subthreshold (86%-91%)
Z5a. 177-180 Superthreshold (92%-93%)
Z5b. 181-186 Aerobic Capacity (94%-96%)
Z5c. 187-193 Anaerobic Capacity (97%-100%)

My Garmin can only manage five heart rate zones so Z5 will be 177-193 (92%-100%).

Tour of Flanders Route Card

Adrian Fitch — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:22:39 +0000

Here’s the route card I’ve prepared for this year’s sportive. I figure I’ll laminate it and keep it in my pocket for easy reference during the ride. I’ve included the four feed stops and made a note for which one will have the bag waiting for me that I will have dropped off at the start. I’ll probably be ready to shed my knee and arm warmers by then (if the weather is good) and pick up a second batch of bars, gels and drink mix.

You’ll also notice that I’ve included the eight longer sections of pavé that are on the route:

Heuisepontweg (1,800m)
Doorn (2,000m)
Paddestraat (2,200m)
Lippenhovestraat (1,300m)
Mariaborrestraat (2,000m)
Holleweg (1,500m)
Kerkgate (1,500m)
Haaghoek (2,000)

I figure it will be handy to have a little warning for these too, not just the 17 climbs.

Can’t wait for summer

Adrian Fitch — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:37:42 +0000

After another typically long, cold and wet ride on Saturday I can’t wait for summer. The mist atop Toys Hill seems a world away from the Rapha video below. I’m longing for that first morning when I look out the window and wonder whether arm warmers and a gilet will be too much rather than if a long-sleeved base, winter jersey and jacket will be enough.

Tour of Flanders Climbs

Adrian Fitch — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:00:37 +0000

The eighteen climbs of the 2011 Tour of Flanders sportive are:

70km Tiegemberg, 750m long, average gradient 5.6%, maximum gradient 9%
80km Nokereberg, 350m, ave 5.7%, max 7%, cobbles
127km Rekelberg, 800m, ave 4%, max 9%
140km Kaperij, 1,000m, ave 5.5%, max 9%
154km Kruisberg, 1,000m, ave 6.5%, max 9%, 500m cobbles
164km Knokteberg, 1,100m, ave 8%, max 13%
171km Oude Kwaremont, 2,200m, ave 4%, max 11.6%, 1,500m cobbles
174km Paterberg, 360m, ave 12.9%, max 20.3%, cobbles
181km Koppenberg, 660m, ave 11.6%, max 22%, cobbles
186km Steenbeekdries, 700m, ave 5.3%, max 6.7%, cobbles
189km Taaienberg, 530m, ave 6.6%, max 15.8%, 520m cobbles
194km Eikenberg, 1,300m, ave 6.2%, max 10%, 1,200m cobbles
209km Molenberg, 463m, ave 7%, max 14.2%, 300m cobbles
216km Leberg, 950m, ave 4.2%, max 13.8%
224km Valkenberg, 540m, ave 8.1%, max 12.8%
231km Tenbosse, 450m, ave 6.9%, max 8.7%
243km Muur-Kapelmuur, 475m, ave 9.3, max 19.8%, cobbles
246km Bosberg, 980m, ave 5.8%, max 11%, 400m cobbles