Leading up to sportive

[ChrisO]

I'll have had about six weeks of really good base training. 200-300km per week of very constant aerobic training at between 75-80% HR.

That's been punctuated by hard climbing days (1500-2000m over about 100km) every two weeks.

That takes me up to June 6 which is two weeks before the event, so what do I need to do after that ?

It's L'Ardechoise on June 20. I'm not certain yet whether to go for the 175km/3000m ascent version and go for a good time, or to try the 215km/4000m ascent version and just get around in reasonable shape.

If I do a 180km ride at a moderate pace a week before the event is that too close ? I wonder if I should be taking it more easily by then ?

And any opinions about which version my training is better suited for ?

[mattc]

Well, the obvious answer is ride my Audax on June 7th! I'd recommend the 200 - it's quite hilly, but not visciously so.

A week's taper will be fine if that 180km is well within your abilities (which it sounds like it is), and you take it easy.

Lastly, your final question; both events require 95% the same kind of training, so just choose on which event you will enjoy / find satisfying.
(Personally, having travelled all that way, I'd want the most cycling I can get.)

[vorsprung]

I find that the best tapering method is

14 to 7 days before event- ride lots of volume.  For me that means commute every day.  Some commute days go as fast as possible
7 days before event- 100km.  I normally ride 100km on sunday afternoon if I am not doing anything else
monday before event- recovery paced ride if the weather is good
tuesday- day off
wednesday- fast commute to work, lots of effort
thurs/fri - day off
sat- event

The idea of the effort on the weds is that for a taper you are supposed to reduce the volume but still keep the level of exertion up.  So for me I go from 5 days commuting to 2 days

[Really Ancien]

You could always do the Dales Grimpeur on May 30th, there's about the same amount of climbing as the Ardechoise.

Audax UK Calendar

Damon.

[ChrisO]

Unless Matt's audax or the Dales grimpeur have been relocated to the UAE I'm afraid I will have to pass on those.

To be honest I didn't renew my membership to AUK this year because the chances of me riding any are zero. I come back every three weeks - telling my family I'm going cycling on one of the two full weekend days I get with them each month would go down badly. I'll be doing it when I go to the Ardechoise.

So anyway, it sounds like the 180km is not a bad idea, thanks.

Then I'll just have a couple of rides during the week. I won't ride Weds/Thur as I'll be coming back from Abu Dhabi on Weds and then driving down to the Ardechey bits on Thurs.